Bosnia film permit given back to star Angelina Jolie

Angelina Jolie has been given back a permit to film in Bosnia that was withdrawn amid rumours her film featured a rape victim who falls in love with her assailant.

The actress was given back the permit for her first project as a director yesterday after the country's culture minister was given the script in an attempt to assure him the rumours were false, said Edin Sarkic, Jolie's Bosnian producer.

Mass rape was a taboo topic in the immediate aftermath of the country's 1992-95 war between Serb and Bosnian Muslim forces.

However, since that time, victims have formed a group to campaign for their rights, which has become one of the country's most powerful bodies for lobbying.

The Association of Women Victims of War protested over Jolie's production after hearing rumours the film's characters - a Bosnian woman and a Serb man - were a rape victim and rapist.