It formed part of the World Cinema Dramatic Competition at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival.

Helmer started writing the script after reading a 2001 newspaper account of women in the Turkish village of Sirt refusing to accommodate their husbands until they fixed a broken pipeline.

[4] He collaborated with Gordan Mihic and Zaza Buadze on the screenplay, receiving funding from Sources2, the Mediterranean Film Institute and the European Commission's MEDIA New Talent programme.

Although the film was made on a low budget, Helmer was able to gather a cast of 40 actors from 14 different countries.

Most of Absurdistan was filmed on location in Lahıc, Ismailli, Azerbaijan over a nine-week period in summer 2006.