​'Blue Is the Warmest Color' director plabs selling off his Palme d'Or to finance his new film

LOS ANGELES: French-Tunisian director Abdellatif Kechiche revealed that he has decided to auction off his Palme d'Or as well as several items from the set of "Blue Is the Warmest Color", to finance his new movie.

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Kechiche shared that he took this decisions because the financiers of his upcoming movie "Mektoub" backed off while the film is still in the phase of post-production.

"I had signed up for one two-hour film, but the final work just so happens to be a diptych in two chapters of three hours each. After five months of negotiations, Pathe Film, the distributor, preferred to void the contracts."

Kechiche says Cofiloisirs, one of the main financers for the film suspended the payments, forcing the him to stop the post-production work.

"I have not yet finished the post-production of the film and, while waiting for the legal problems to be resolved, I put up for auction anything that could help us finish our work," he said.

The 56-year-old director said "I'm not attached to objects" when asked about his decision of auctioning his Cannes trophy.

The Cannes Film Festival and Cofiloisirs have not yet responded on this story yet.