December 21, 2012 | 10:44 am

‘Fill the Void’ not on Oscar foreign language film shortlist

Posted by Tom Tugend

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Israel’s Oscar-nomination run hit another bump Friday , when “Fill the Void,” the country’s entry, failed to make the list of nine semi-finalists among foreign-language films.

This year’s entries from 71 countries showed a renewed interest in Holocaust and World War II themes. Although also shut out, five movies dealt with the Jewish fate during the Nazi era and its aftermath, one film with Talmudic roots, and one on the wartime clashes between Soviet and German forces.

“Fill the Void” by director Rana Burshtein centered on the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community in Tel Aviv.

Among the nine entries still in the race, Austria’s “Amour” and France’s “The Intouchables” are considered the frontrunners to walk away with the Oscar.

Other countries making the shortlist are Canada, Chile, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, Romania and Switzerland. The Palestinian film, “When I Saw You,” failed to make the cut.

Except for 2010, Israel’s entries had made the elite list of five finalists since 2007, but without yet garnering the top prize. Last year’s submission was Joseph Cedar’s “Footnote,” representing one of the strongest bids by the Israeli film industry, but the trophy went to Iran’s “A Separation.”

Israel’s remaining hope lies in the documentary feature category. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences earlier announced the titles of 15 chosen semi-finalists, including “The Gatekeepers” by Israeli director Dror Moreh, and “5 Broken Cameras” by directors Emud Burnat, a Palestinian, and Guy Davidi, an Israeli.

The final shortlist of five foreign-language film nominees will be announced Jan. 10, 2013, and the Oscar winner crowned on Feb. 24 in Hollywood.

September 12, 2012 | 3:28 pm

Media misled in anti-Islam filmmaker story

Posted by Tom Tugend

A film insulting the prophet Muhammad sparked instant riots in Libya and Egypt on Tuesday, but the alleged facts underpinning the story seem to be collapsing just as quickly.

Enraged by available clips from the film, which describe Islam as “a cancer” and Muhammad as a homosexual who approved sexual child abuse, demonstrators in Benghazi killed the U.S. ambassador to Libya and three fellow diplomats, while protestors in Cairo attacked the U.S. embassy there.

In initial news reports in the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press, which quickly went viral, the director-writer of “Innocence of Muslims” was identified as Sam Bacile, a 56-year old Israeli-American property developer in Los Angeles.

Bacile, supposedly phoning from an undisclosed hiding place, told AP that the film was made as a provocative religious statement, which he, an “Israeli Jew,” made at a cost of $5 million, raised from 100 Jewish donors.

Hardly any statement could have done more to further inflame hatred of Jews, Israel and America in the Muslim world, but at this point the story started to unravel.

First, a high-ranking Israeli official in Los Angeles said that extensive inquiries among Hollywood insiders and members of the local Israeli community failed to turn up a single person who knew a Sam Bacile.

Then the Israeli government in Jerusalem couldn’t turn up any citizenship records under that name, while California officials reported that no real estate license had ever been issued to a Sam Bacile.

Blogger Edward Blackthorn (www.publici.com) raised some basic questions as to why $5 million was needed for a film described as “unprofessional” by the Hollywood Reporter, and expressing doubt that any producer could find 100 financial backers for such a dubious enterprise.

“How did Sam Bacile manage to convince AP with so little proof, over the phone, and with such a shaky story?” Blackthorn asked, adding, “Not a single outlet has made any attempt at further vetting such a report.”

The most damning analysis came from Jeffrey Goldberg, national correspondent for The Atlantic, who managed to contact Steve Klein, described in earlier news reports as Bacile’s “associate” or “consultant.”

For starters, Klein has been described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as an “extremist” and self-described militant Christian activist, who led anti-Muslim protests.

Klein then told Goldberg that “Bacile” was a pseudonym, and that the real person, whatever his name, “is not Israeli…I doubt he is Jewish. I suspect this is a disinformation campaign.”

Undoubtedly there will be further revelations, but it seems safe to guess that some leading American media outlets will have to spend considerable time scraping eggs of their corporate countenances.

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September 12, 2012 | 10:19 am

Who Is Sam Bacile?

Posted by Tom Tugend

A high-ranking Israeli official in Los Angeles said today that after numerous inquiries, it appeared that no one in the Hollywood film industry or in the local Israeli community knew of a Sam Bacile, the supposed director-writer of the incendiary film “Innocence of Muslims.”

The official expressed some doubt that a person by that name actually existed.

The Los Angeles chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Islamic Shura Council are holding a press conference today to condemn the killing of the U.S. ambassador to Libya and attacks on diplomatic facilities and persons in Libya and Egypt.

In Washington, CAIR’s national officials called on Muslims in the Middle East “to ignore the trashy anti-Islam film that resulted in the attacks.”

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