Film About Girl Born From Palestinian Prisoner’s Smuggled Sperm Creates Uproar
The Royal Film Commission of Jordan gave in to public pressure and withdrew the movie "Amira" from the 2022 Oscars race following massive protests on social media against the film
A film about the smuggling of Palestinian prisoners’ sperm out of Israeli jails is facing backlash over its depiction of the prisoners’ plight and the practice, and is accused of promoting an Israeli agenda.
The fictional film tells the story of a Palestinian girl who discovers that she was conceived by sperm from an Israeli prison guard rather than her father, who was a Palestinian prisoner.
The Royal Film Commission of Jordan on Thursday gave in to public pressure and decided to withdraw the movie “Amira” from the 2022 Oscar race following massive protests on social media against the film.
The issue of Palestinian prisoners is a sacrosanct topic in Palestinian society, and negative discussion is considered taboo.
The film received its world premiere at the 78th Venice International Film Festival earlier this year, where it won two major awards.
Jordan nominated the film as its official entry for the 94th Academy Awards to compete for an Oscar in the international feature film category.
The film was directed and scripted by Egyptian filmmaker Mohamed Diab; two Israeli Arab actors, Ali Suliman and Saleh Bakri, participated in the controversial movie.
It received widespread condemnation from Palestinians from all walks of life.
The Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society support organization called the film an “insult to the dignity” of the prisoners.
Palestinian film critic Yousef Shayeb told The Media Line that he is one of the fiercest defenders of freedoms of all types, but that the movie “Amira” “does not fall within this framework.”
He challenged the audacity of the entire film crew, including the production company, for producing a movie about such a sensitive issue.
“Does Mohamed Diab dare to direct a film on an issue that so affects Egyptian society?” he said.
The families and the prisoners are the heroes in the occupation prisons. They do not deserve an awful film.
Iyad Hamad, a resident of Bethlehem who works as a cameraman, told The Media Line that “Arab cinema fell badly” with the production of “Amira.”
“Unfortunately, the director was not successful in defending this storied film. The families and the prisoners are the heroes in the occupation prisons. They do not deserve an awful film,” he said.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, in the past decade more than 100 children have been conceived using sperm smuggled from Israeli prisons.
Jamal M. El-Attar wondered publicly in a post on social media whether or not art should carry a patriotic message.
Quite a few people answered Attar’s musing directly or indirectly.
Najwa Abdo said in a comment that “if you want money” or “want to be famous” all you need to do is talk about the Palestinian cause in a “bad way.”
She says the film was so “offensive” that the families of the prisoners should file a lawsuit against the entire crew in Jordan, the country where it was filmed.
This is an insult to our heroes and their struggle against the occupation
Muhammad Jayyousi attacked the movie, saying this is a “very offensive work of art against the prisoners and the children of smuggled sperm, and it questions the children’s lineage.” He added that “this is a film produced by the Israeli Shin Bet (internal intelligence agency) in order to distort the image of our prisoners, their wives and society in general by planting a distorted and false narrative. This is an insult to our heroes and their struggle against the occupation.”
Mohannad Karajah, a Palestinian human rights defender and an attorney representing the Lawyers for Justice human rights organization, called on the prisoners’ families to file lawsuits against those behind the film. Karajah added that the children born as a result of smuggled sperms are “ambassadors for freedom and constitute victory for the will of our prisoners and a living embodiment of our people’s insistence on survival and continuation of the struggle until liberation.”
Unlike some Israeli inmates, Palestinians who are incarcerated in Israeli prisons on security charges are not allowed conjugal visits where they can be intimate with their partners.
