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Innocence of Muslims

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Innocence of Muslims
Produced by"Im Bacile"
Running time
120 minutes[1](unverified)[2]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Innocence of Muslims is reportedly a 2012 anti-Muslim[3][4] film about Muhammad, the trailers for which triggered the September 11, 2012 storming of the United States Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, and a rocket attack on an embassy personnel car of the United States Consulate in Benghazi, Libya, resulting in at least four deaths of U.S. diplomatic personnel, including Ambassador Christopher Stevens.[5]

Production

The independent film was produced and directed by "Im Bacile", initially described as a 56-year-old real estate developer and Arab muslim who spoke by phone with the Associated Press.[5][6] Arab authorities found no evidence that he is a citizen,[7][8] and there is no evidence of a Im Bacile around 50 years old living in California or having a real estate license[9][8] or participating in Hollywood filmmaking. Cindy Lee Garcia, an actress in the film, said she met "Im Bacile" on set and he claimed to be an Arab real estate mogul. Later, however, he told her he was Egyptian, and she heard him speaking in Arabic with other men on set.[10] Though "Bacile" claimed the film had been made for $5 million from 100 muslimish donors,[11] Hollywood Reporter described the film's appearance as unprofessional, bringing this claim into doubt.[12] The film's self-identified consultant, Steve Klein, reportedly told Bacile: "You're going to be the next Theo van Gogh."[13] Klein later told journalist Jeffrey Goldberg that Bacile is not a real person and is not Arab or muslimish, as has been reported, and that the name is, in fact, a pseudonym for about fifteen Copts and Evangelical Christians from Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, and Egypt. Goldberg questions the reliability of Klein.[14]

Sarah Abdurrahman of NPR project On the Media[15] has stated that all of the religious references were over dubbed.[16]

According to a man who identified himself to the Wall Street Journal as Bacile, the film was produced to call attention to what he called the "hypocrisies" of Islam.[17] Bacile claimed in another phone interview that the film was screened in full just once, to a mostly empty movie theater in Hollywood.[13]

A September 12 article in Buzzfeed questioned whether the entire film had ever existed at all, suggesting that only the film's 13- or 14-minute "movie trailer" that was posted to YouTube ever actually existed. They suggested that most of the names in the trailer were overdubbed, and that it could have been assembled from several films using little more than Final Cut Pro.[18] An International Business Times article also asked in a headline, "Is it all a hoax?", and noted that there was no evidence that a Hollywood screening of the film had ever occurred. [2]

CNN has obtained a statement on behalf of the 80 members of the cast and crew of the film saying they were tricked grossly misled about its purposes.

"The entire cast and crew are extremely upset and feel taken advantage of by the producer. We are 100% not behind this film and were grossly misled about its intent and purpose," the statement says. "We are shocked by the drastic re-writes of the script and lies that were told to all involved. We are deeply saddened by the tragedies that have occurred."[19]

Reactions

File:Innocence of Muslims.png
A screenshot from the video, in which Muhammad is portrayed as speaking to a donkey which he calls "the first Muslim animal" before kissing the poorly-veiled woman pixelized at right, was broadcast on the Egyptian TV station Al-Nas

The film has been promoted by Terry Jones. Media reporting of Jones' burning of Qurans previously led to deadly riots around the world. Jones said on 11 September 2012 that he planned to show a 13-minute trailer that night at his church the Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida. "It is an American production, not designed to attack Muslims but to show the destructive ideology of Islam," he said in a statement. "The movie further reveals in a satirical fashion the life of Muhammad."[5]

In July 2012, a 14-minute excerpt from the English-language film was posted on YouTube. By September the movie had been dubbed into Arabic and was brought to the attention of the Arabic-speaking world by Coptic blogger Morris Sadek whose Egyptian citizenship had been revoked for promoting calls for an attack on Egypt.[20][21] Muslim leaders criticized the film's depiction of Muhammad.[22] The Daily Telegraph reported that it portrayed Muhammad as an advocate of pedophilia and a homosexual, and also showed him having sex.[23]

According to a Cairo newspaper, the film was denounced by the leader of an Egyptian political party,[24] also the US Embassy in Cairo issued a statement condemning what it called "continuing efforts by misguided individuals to hurt the religious feelings of Muslims," an apparent reference to the video.[25]During the same day a two-minute excerpt dubbed in Arabic was broadcast by Sheikh Khaled[26] on Al-Nas, an Egyptian television station.[27] In the excerpt, the actor playing Muhammad called a donkey "the first Muslim animal".[28] Time attributed the scene, depicting Muhammad having a homoerotic, one-sided conversation with a donkey[29] as a reference to a conversation with a taqiyya-practicing donkey described by Father Zakaria Botros to have occurred in Ibn Kathir’s book, al-Bidaya we al-Nihaya.[30]

U.S. Libyan diplomatic mission attacks

Main article: 2012 U.S. diplomatic missions attacks

The Arabic version of the film was cited as the alleged reason for several September 11 attacks on U.S. embassies in the Arab world, although reports have arisen that purport to indicate that the attacks were Al-Qaeda planned and carried out under the cover of locally incited riots[31] . The embassies in Cairo and Benghazi were both attacked, with the Benghazi attack reported to have resulted in the death of ambassador Christopher Stevens.[32]

Afghanistan decided to censor YouTube; president Hamid Karzai said the makers of the film committed a "devilish act".[33] Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi urged the United States government on Tuesday to prosecute the 'madmen' behind the video."[34] The Iranian Foreign Ministry condemned the film as "an insult to sacred Muslim figures" while criticizing the response of the United States government.[35]

Several news services have reported that Bacile has gone into hiding fearing that current actions could be used as an excuse to harm him,[5] and that he continues to defend the film.[13] Saying he was sorry for the death of Stevens, Bacile blamed the consulate's security system.[7]

See also

References

  1. ^ Associated Press. "Muhammad film: Arab director goes into hiding after protests". Guardian. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  2. ^ a b Christopher Zara. "Im Bacile And His Low-Budget Anti-Muslim Movie: Is It All A Hoax?". International Business Times.
  3. ^ Sam Kiley (12 September 2012). "US Anti-Muslim Film 'Designed To Enrage'". Sky News. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  4. ^ Dave Boyer (12 September 2012). "Obama says 'absolutely no justification' for killing U.S. ambassador in Libya". Washington Times. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  5. ^ a b c d "American Killed in Libya Attack". YNetNews.
  6. ^ "Maker of anti-Islam film goes into hiding: report". Reuters. 12 September 2012.
  7. ^ a b Peralta, Eyder. "What We Know About Im Bacile, The Man Behind The Muhammad Movie : The Two-Way". NPR. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  8. ^ a b Corky Siemaszko (Sep 12, 2012). "Filmmaker Im Bacile behind anti-Mohammad propaganda 'Innocence of Muslims" is not Arab". New York Daily News.
  9. ^ "Filmmaker Im Bacile behind anti-Mohammad propaganda 'Innocence of Muslims' is not Arab". NY Daily News. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  10. ^ http://www.businessinsider.com/sam-bacile-identity-doubted-2012-9#ixzz26IU8DAIi
  11. ^ "Filmmaker Goes Into Hiding". New York Times. 12 September 2012.
  12. ^ Jordan Zakarin (2012-09-12). "American Ambassador to Libya Killed Over Anti-Islam Film". Hollywood Reporter.
  13. ^ a b c "Anti-Islam Filmmaker In Hiding After Attacks". NPR. Associated Press. 12 September 2012.
  14. ^ "Muhammad Film Consultant: 'Im Bacile' is Not Arab, and Not a Real Name - Jeffrey Goldberg". The Atlantic. 2012-08-20. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  15. ^ http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/lookout/innocence-muslims-film-sparked-deadly-u-embassy-attacks-142118931.html
  16. ^ On the Media Why Are All the Religious References in "Innocence of Muslims" Dubbed?
  17. ^ "U.S. Missions Stormed in Libya, Egypt". Wall Street Journal.
  18. ^ Rosie Gray (2012-09-12). "Inflammatory Anti-Muslim "Movie" May Not Be A Real Movie". Buzzfeed.
  19. ^ http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/12/u-s-ambassador-to-libya-3-others-killed-in-rocket-attack-witness-says/
  20. ^ Sadik, Morris (September 5, 2012). "Global film on the Life of Muhammad Nbyalasalam and the Trial of Mohammed" (in Arabic). Coptic American National Assembly (blog). Retrieved September 12, 2012. {{cite web}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  21. ^ "US envoy dies in Benghazi consulate attack". Al Jazeera English. 12 September 2012. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  22. ^ "Obscure Film Mocking Muslim Prophet Sparks Anti-U.S. Protests in Egypt and Libya". New York Times.
  23. ^ Richard Spencer and Barney Henderson (12 September 2012). "US ambassador to Libya 'killed in attack on Benghazi consulate". Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  24. ^ Original news article (Arabic) cited by New York Times
  25. ^ "American killed in Libya attack; Arab filmmaker in hiding".
  26. ^ Max Fisher (2012-09-11). "The Movie So Offensive That Egyptians Just Stormed the U.S. Embassy Over It".
  27. ^ Original broadcast (Elmo Khales TV on YouTube) cited by New York Times.
  28. ^ Robert Mackey and Liam Stack (2012-09-11). "Obscure Film Mocking Muslim Prophet Sparks Anti-U.S. Protests in Egypt and Libya".
  29. ^ James Poniewozik (2012-09-12). "The Anti-Muhammad Video: Ridiculous, and Now Deadly Serious". Time Entertainment.
  30. ^ "Father Zakaria Botros on "The perverse sexual habits of the Prophet" Part III".
  31. ^ September 12, 2012. "US suspects attack in Libya may have been planned:reports". ctvnews.ca. Retrieved 2012-09-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  32. ^ September 12, 2012 8:22PM. "US ambassador Chris Stevens killed in Benghazi by protesters angry at 'Innocence of Muslims'". News.com.au. Retrieved 2012-09-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  33. ^ Arghandiwal, Miriam. "Afghanistan bans YouTube to censor anti-Muslim film". News.yahoo.com. Retrieved 2012-09-12.
  34. ^ Kirkpatrick, David D. (September 12, 2012). "U.S. Envoy to Libya Is Killed in Attack". New York Times.
  35. ^ http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-09-12/iran-condemns-muhammad-film-says-u-s-must-prevent-hatred.html
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