CAIRO — Clips of the film which has sparked a deadly attack on a US mission in Libya and furious protests in Egypt have been posted on the Internet and private satellite channels have been showing segments. The low-budget movie, “Innocence of Muslims” in which actors have strong American accents, portrays Muslims as immoral and gratuitously violent.
The film was produced by Israeli-American Sam Bacile, according to the Wall Street Journal, but Egyptian media said that some Egyptian Copts living in the US were involved in the production. On Wednesday, an Egyptian journalist filed a lawsuit against the producers of the film for “offense to Islam” and has called on authorities to strip the Egyptian Copts involved in the production of their nationality. With amateur costumes, a choppy script and fake backdrops, the film would hardly have been noticed some say, had it not been for its promotion by US pastor Terry Jones, who drew protests in the past for burning a copy of the Holy Qur'an. Bacile told the Journal he had raised $5 million to make it from about 100 Jewish donors, whom he declined to identify. He said he had worked with some 60 actors and 45 crew to make the two-hour movie in a three-month period last year in California. — Agencies
