ANGELINA Jolie has been given back a permit to film in Bosnia that was brieflywithdrawn because of rumors that her movie featured a rape victim who falls in love with her assailant, her producer said yesterday.

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

The minister did not return a phone call seeking comment.

Mass rape was a taboo topic in the immediate aftermath of the country's 1992-95 war between Serb and Bosnian Muslim forces but since then victims have formed a group to campaign for their rights, which has become one of the country's most powerful lobbies.

The Association of Women Victims of War protested Jolie's production after hearing rumors that the film's main characters