The film was shot in Romania in July 2006 for around £25,000 with a small crew of 11 people (including transport and catering). Strickland paid everyone on the 17-days-shoot himself, apart from the focus-puller, who agreed to work for free. The whole crew and the actors lived together in an empty house in a small village in the Carpathian Mountains. After the shoot Strickland ran out of money while editing. He approached many UK production companies, but the reaction was always negative because an obscure film by an unknown director, not even in the English language, seemed to put off all UK investors. Only two Romanian producers,
Oana Giurgiu and
Tudor Giurgiu, paid attention. They saw Strickland's rough cut and came on board as co-producers, providing the funds to make a proper sound-mix and a blow-up from the Super-16mm negatives to 35mm. It was then invited and shown in competition at the '59th Berlin International Film Festival' in 2009 and won the 'Outstanding Artistic Contribution' award for the creative sound design. Without the Romanian producers, the film would never have been properly finished.
