in Eastern Europe rather than Corsica and fewer shooting days would be allotted. This allowed the original 5 million budget to be reduced by 700,000 to the amount available. With the funding promises secured and a revised shooting schedule, the film’s producers forged a new co-production contract in July 2005.
While the production’s lawyers worked to clarify its legal standing in the Summer of 2005, it emerged that Humbert Balsan’s deeply indebted production company Ognon Pictures had pledged all rights to the production to Coficin in exchange for loans. With production in legal stasis and faced with a lengthy court battle to recover the rights, the producers agreed to a settlement with Ognon’s bankruptcy officer. In the meantime, the French partners Mezzanine Film declared their uncomfortableness with the scale of the production, and after mutual agreement with the