Like its vampiric subjects, the beleaguered film adaptation of Victor Pelevin’s novel “Empire V” can perhaps best be described as neither fully dead nor fully alive. A year after the postponement of its premiere due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the film remains trapped in a kind of cultural netherworld.

With seventy percent of shooting complete and a budget shortfall of 235 million rubles, “Empire V”‘s filmmakers turned to a novel form of fundraising: cryptocurrency. An Initial Coin Offering (ICO) of “Bablos” tokens—named for the money-like substance that the vampires in Pelevin’s novel consume instead of blood—offered fans the chance to partake in a “first of its kind” cinematic crowdfunding project.