Sam Bacile And His Low-Budget Anti-Muslim Movie: Is It All A Hoax?

[goodhue]

Source: International Business Times

Sam Bacile And His Low-Budget Anti-Muslim Movie: Is It All A Hoax?

By Christopher Zara: Subscribe to Christopher's RSS feed

September 12, 2012 2:29 PM EDT

Details -- however minimal -- have begun to surface about the amateur filmmaker whose movie ridiculing the Islamic prophet Muhammad sparked deadly protests in Egypt and Libya.

Four Americans have been killed in the demonstrations, including the U.S. ambassador to Libya. In Cairo, protesters climbed the walls of the U.S. Embassy compound and tore down the American flag. "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is his messenger," they chanted.

All this over a few movie clips that look like they were produced by a group of high schoolers in a Video 101 class. Reminiscent of low-budget, unfunny comedy sketches, the clips -- supposedly from a movie called "Innocence of Muslims" -- depict Muhammad as a freewheeling, womanizing shyster who promoted child abuse. It sparked violent protests on Tuesday after clips of the film surfaced on YouTube, some of which were later dubbed in Arabic.

But so far only scant details are known about the movie's shadowy writer/director who calls himself Sam Bacile. The only interviews with him have been done by phone, and what little information he has revealed raises more than a few red flags.

So is there a Sam Bacile, and does "Innocence of Muslims" even exist?

* * *

Read more: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/383624/20120912/sam-bacile-innocence-muslims-steve-klein-islamic.htm

[rachel1]

1. Evidence? Who needs evidence when folks can just speculate wildly?

[Dont call me Shirley]

6. Here's a wild conspiracy thought, "Netanyahu did it because he was dissed by the Pres recently"

How ironic on the day of 9-11.

[leftynyc]

13. It seems much more likely

it was an American Christian fundamentalist who decided to fuck with the Muslims and blame the Jews.

[bigmonkey]

14. Demanding conclusive evidence before the investigation starts?

What's your agenda with that? Where is that ever the proper order of things? Or are you just conflating "evidence" with "conclusive evidence"? There's some evidence that the film-maker's name is a pseudonym at least, so what's the problem with following that trail? Are you concerned where it might lead?

[HooptieWagon]

2. It well could be a fraud.

Are the short YouTube clips all that exist? Did "Bacile" defraud his investors? Might be time for a little investigative work...

[goodhue]

4. What investors?

Their existence is also in doubt.

[HooptieWagon]

16. True. They may be fictional also.

But the story going around is he raised $5M from Jewish-Americans to make the movie. It's a good question to ask who they are, if they even exist. And reports are the movie is very amateurishly made ( I haven't watched it), and all anybody has seen are the short YouTube clips. If there were investors, did "Bacile" (of whom its now said isn't even from Israel) take the $5M, make a couple short clips, and pocket the rest of the money? And is he hiding because he fears muslim retaliation, or police investigation?

[goodhue]

21. Perhaps Bacile, the $5 million, the investors, and the movie don't exist.

Only the 13 minute youtube trailer uploaded in July by Morris Sadik, an Egyptian Coptic Christian based in California who runs a small virulently Islamophobic group called the National American Coptic Assembly.

[HooptieWagon]

30. Its possible.

The media does appear to be taking a closer look.

[flamingdem]

3. we'll be sure to see more of same

it works to create mayhem and worse

[libguard]

5. Can anyone say, October Surprise? That backfired? Or they dont care about deaths, as long as Obama l

looks bad? Just enough trappings to get the juices flowing.

[They_Live]

7. I swear

I'm smelling some Cheney & Rove.

[progressivebydesign]

19. and Adelson. $$$$$ n/t

[kooljerk666]

22. Agree 1000%

Netenyahu did nor get his meeting & boom this happens............

[Behind the Aegis]

24. Perhaps you haven't been told...

...but Netenyahu did get a meeting, albeit by phone, and no request to meet was denied (by the US government) or even made (by the Israeli government).

[olddad56]

8. CIA?

[LiberalArkie]

11. Massad

[cali]

17. do you mean Mossad?

and please provide even the tiniest shred of evidence or even a reasoned argument.

[LongTomH]

9. Well, surprise, surprise! I've been suspicious of this all along!

But according to Steve Klein, who claims to have worked as a consultant on the film, Bacile knew it would ignite violence. Speaking to the Associated Press on Wednesday, Klein claimed to be reluctant in helping Bacile with the movie, telling him, "You're going to be the next Theo van Gogh." The comment was a reference to the Dutch filmmaker who in 2004 was gunned down by an Islamic extremist after he made a movie that criticized Muslim societies' treatment of women.

In fact, Klein himself is a shadowy figure. He apparently authored a self-published book on Islam (with a poorly designed cover), but aside from that, he has not left many tracks. In a phone interview with the Atlantic on Wednesday, Klein said he believes Bacile is not Israeli and, most likely, not Jewish. He also said that Bacile was a pseudonym and that he did not know his real name.

Update: According to the Times of Israel, officials for that country confirmed that they have no record of Israeli citizenship for a Sam Bacile.

Bacile claims to have made "Innocence of Muslims" on a budget of $5 million with the help of 100 Jewish donors, but one look at the film clips on YouTube will call that claim into question. The movie appears to have been shot on a consumer-grade DV camcorder with amateur actors, fake backgrounds and cheap sets. The lighting and sound are of equally low quality. In Hollywood dollars, $5 million may be considered low-budget, but if the filmmaker really spent that much money on this shoddy work, it's his donors who should be doing the protesting.

Meanwhile, efforts to uncover the film's anonymous funders have so far turned up nothing. Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for the Atlantic, tweeted on Wednesday: "I would love to know more about Mr. Sam Bacile, whom no Jew I know has ever heard, and his 100 mysterious backers."

That's assuming there even is a film. In early July, two 13-minute clips were posted on a YouTube account by someone with the username Sam Bacile, but no one has come forward claiming to have seen the finished product. Moreover, IMDb lists nothing for the project or Bacile himself, to say nothing of the supposed 59 actors and 45 crewmembers who worked on it.

Someone got some 'splainin' to do!

[Kindly Refrain]

12. The very first actor in the film has a New York accent

and the second one seen is wearing "black face".

[randome]

15. I am loathe to join into conspiracy theories but...anyone know what James O'Keefe has been up to?

[Myrina]

18. Now THERE'S an interesting thought!

Hmmmmmm .....

[Kindly Refrain]

20. Good call

I'll throw some random speculation out there. There are quite a few amateur actors in this thing, it's hard to get people like that unless you already have a network. Like a fundamentalist Christian college that has a sound stage and editing facilities. Liberty University or Regent University.

[nlof]

23. Sam Bacile - a disgruntled Egyptian?

Sam Bacile writes in arabic in his youtube comments and showsمحمد حامد الشربيني‬? (Mohamed Hamed El-Sherbini) as his friend on google+. Since he claims he has relatives in Egypt he's likely a disgruntled Egyptian.

[goodhue]

25. Yes, to the extent he exists, seems like may be associated with Egyptian Coptic Christian community

Morris Sadik, an Egyptian Coptic Christian based in California who runs a small virulently Islamophobic group called the National American Coptic Assembly blogged link to video in July.

And this is what the Atlantic reported Steve Klein said . . .

When I asked him to describe Bacile, he said: "I don't know that much about him. I met him, I spoke to him for an hour. He's not Israeli, no. I can tell you this for sure, the State of Israel is not involved, Terry Jones (the radical Christian Quran-burning pastor) is not involved. His name is a pseudonym. All these Middle Eastern folks I work with have pseudonyms. I doubt he's Jewish. I would suspect this is a disinformation campaign."

I asked him who he thought Sam Bacile was. He said that there are about 15 people associated with the making of the film, "Nobody is anything but an active American citizen. They're from Syria, Turkey, Pakistan, they're some that are from Egypt. Some are Copts but the vast majority are Evangelical."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014227295

[Roland99]

26. a figment of Terry Jones' warped mind?

[rusty fender]

27. I think that the name is really "Im Bacile."

[mbperrin]

28. I watched the whole trailer. It is definitely shouting fire in a crowded theater.

Disgusting, hateful, and has now been the catalyst for deaths.

Sam Bacile is an Imbecile.

[Tx4obama]

29. Here is a statement from the cast of the film

-snip-

(Updated at 4:28 p.m. ET) A statement released on the behalf of the 80 cast and crew members of "Innocence of Muslims," a film that reportedly prompted Tuesday protests at the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, indicates that they are not happy with the film and were misled by the producer.

"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."

As this post has previously noted, U.S. officials speaking on condition of anonymity say they believe the attack that killed four Americans in Benghazi was planned before the protests and was not prompted by the film, and that the attackers perhaps used the protest as a diversion. (See 2:48 p.m. update.)

-snip-

http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2012/09/12/u-s-ambassador-to-libya-3-others-killed-in-rocket-attack-witness-says/

[winstars]

32. How does the entire 80 person cast and crew organize for a joint statement???

How the fuck can 80 people who worked on a project be able put out this statement. More BS from somebody to CNN!!!

The only people who would know the cast and crew would be the producers in this case Sam Bacile and Co...

[goodhue]

33. It is peculiar

Here is interview of one cast member . . .

http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014227732

[rsweets]

31. So the producer is in hiding while the actors are in the open

and their lives in danger. You think maybe some happy little

jihadist would not love to be the one to kill the actor that played

the prophet.

Whoever the ,dare I say, brains is behind this is a real class act.

I have no problem with religion until people get involved...
(i heard that somewhere i think)