MOVIES - Feb. 8, 1991

The Cannes File: Director Roman Polanski, who was jury president in 1968 when the Cannes Film Festival was canceled midway because of protests over the student riots in Paris, returns to the Mediterranean coastal resort to resume that role this year. Polanski, referring to the concerns for terrorism that are already forming clouds over this May’s event, said, “I guess I bring some weird luck to this festival.” Speaking by phone from his home in Paris, Polanski recalled the scene at Cannes during the height of the 1968 craziness: “Carlos Saura and Geraldine (Chaplin) had a film there and they did not want it shown . . . They were hanging from the curtains trying to keep them from opening and people were punching each other. It was part life, part movie.” Polanski said that when he was invited to return this year, he asked if they were sure it was going to go on. “They told me the cancellation of the festival will not take place.”