User:Davidzundel/Obsession

The unusual distribution of millions of DVDs of the movie in over 70 US newspapers and by direct mail in September 2008 has lead to attention, scrutiny, and controversy.

The timing and targeting of the distribution along with Clarion Fund's origins, connections, and unrevealed funding for the large distribution has stimulated controversy and speculation.

The movie's depiction of Islam and Muslims has received criticism and accusations of Islamophobia and a political agenda.

Production
Raphael Shore produced and cowrote the movie. Shore also produced Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East. Shore founded and serves as president of Clarion Fund which has a non-exclusive agreement to distribute Obsession.

Rebecca Kabat, as vice-president of Clarion Fund, wrote to the Internal Revenue Service that Castello Limited produced Obsession.

The Internet Movie Database lists Pulsar Productions as a production company for the movie.

Executive producer Peter Mier, an alias for an unnamed Canadian Jewish businessman, provided about 80 percent of the movie's $400,000 budget, according to Raphael Shore. Shore also identified the production manager Brett Halperin as an alias.

Wayne Kopping cowrote, directed, and edited the movie. Kopping also cowrote, co-directed, and edited Relentless: The Struggle for Peace in the Middle East.

Danor Glazer, Itai Newman, Charles Tudor, Rael Wienburg, Nevo ben Canaan, Misha Spektor, and Shuky Zuta worked as crew on the movie.

The movie uses images from Arab TV. (Middle East Media Research Institute and Palestinian Media Watch)

Disclaimer
/* Disclaimer */ reasonable placement, formatted in accordance with MOS:QUOTE - if you think it unbalanced, and some content

The movie begins with a disclaimer:

"This is a film about Radical Islamic terror.

A dangerous ideology, fuelled by religious hatred.

It's important to remember, most Muslims are peaceful and do not support terror.

This is not a film about them.

This is a film about a radical worldview, and the threat it poses to us all, Muslim and non-Muslim alike."

Despite the disclaimer, the movie has received criticism for unfairly portraying Islam as violent and conflating mainstream Islam with a violent and militant subset of the religion.

Ted Vaden, the public editor of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, which distributed the DVD of the movie, wrote: "Although the film took pains to say that most Muslims are not violent, that disclaimer was buried in the avalanche of anti-Islamic images, slogans and interviews with experts of dubious credentials."

Interviews
Interviews with the following persons appear in the movie.

Nonie Darwish, Alan Dershowitz, Steven Emerson, Brigitte Gabriel, Martin Gilbert, Caroline Glick, Alfons Heck, Glen Jenvey, John Loftus, Salim Mansur, Itamar Marcus, Khaleel Mohammed, Daniel Pipes, Tashbih Sayyed, Walid Shoebat, Khaled Abu Toameh, Robert Wistrich

Khaleel Mohammed, an assistant professor of religious studies at San Diego State University interviewed in the movie about the meaning of Jihad and its misuse by extremists, wrote a denouncement of his involvement with the movie: "Sadly, it would seem that I have allowed myself to be used. ... I understood that the film would be used objectively, focusing on fanatics who seek to spread violence. I am aware that there is a disclaimer at the beginning of the film that says it is not about Islam in general, but only about extremist interpretations.

But the material from some of the speakers gives the lie to the disclaimer: many of them are not experts, or have used the mantle of academic qualifications to purvey hate. That their alarmist drivel should be mixed with my whittled down interview proves that the intent of the film is not to educate, but to mislead. ...

...

... I must also accept culpability for allowing myself to be so used. ... I apologize to my fellow Muslims for appearing in such a film. I apologize to my Jewish teachers and friends ..."

Walid Shoebat also appeared in Islam: What the West Needs to Know. Yonat Shimron of The News & Observer of Raleigh, North Carolina, which distributed the DVD of the movie, wrote: "Despite the disclaimer, the film features prominent anti-Muslim pundits, including Daniel Pipes, Steven Emerson and Walid Shoebat, who told the Springfield News-Leader -- a Missouri daily -- that 'Islam is not the religion of God -- Islam is the devil.'"

The Jewish Telegraphic Agency wrote: "Producers of the documentary insist that it only targets a radical minority among Muslims; however, a number of the interviewees in the documentary are on the record as describing Islam as inherently prone to hegemony."

_
Nonie Darwish, founder of Arabs for Israel

Alan Dershowitz

Steven Emerson

Brigitte Gabriel, founder of American Congress for Truth The world according to Brigitte Gabriel

Martin Gilbert

Caroline Glick

Alfons Heck

Glen Jenvey

John Loftus

Salim Mansur

Itamar Marcus

Khaleel Mohammed

Daniel Pipes

Tashbih Sayyed

Walid Shoebat God's Agenda For The Ages

Khaled Abu Toameh

Robert Wistrich

Television
MSNBC?

Public
In Dearborn, Michigan, local religious leaders called a free screening of the documentary on 2008-09-11 a divisive publicity stunt. Joe Wierzbicki of the King Media Group, Russo Marsh & Rogers, and the Our Country Deserves Better PAC, said: "There is a problem with an acceptance of radical Islam in Dearborn more so than anywhere else than I know of," according to the Detroit Free Press, quoting Wierzbicki as a spokesman for a California-based public relations company hired to promote the film.

Colleges
Film sparks controversy across campuses

Distribution
Produced in 2005, released in 2006, and issued on DVD in 2007, the movie had extensive distribution in the autumn of 2008.

RNC & DNC

Newspapers
The Greensboro News & Record president and publisher Robin Saul and advertising director Catherine Kernels declined to distribute the DVD in their newspaper. Saul said: "It didn't meet our advertising standards. We were told its purpose was educational. We didn't see it as educational at all. It was fear-mongering and divisive." The Greensboro News & Record editor John Robinson wrote: "As a journalist, my default position is to provide people with more knowledge, however troubling, rather than less. Were this truly an issue of the freedom of information, I would have argued to publish. But this was a paid advertisement presenting one side of an inflammatory issue."

The distribution of the DVD has worried Muslims. Altaf Ali, director of the Florida chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations, said: "I'm fearful for my children that someone might be upset, may become influenced by this documentary and take out the anger against my children."

Mail
Kalamazoo

something about Clarion using nonprofit permit and someone else paying

Other
The Internet Movie Database lists G-Machine as a distributor for the movie outside of the United States.

'Watch Obsession' Volunteers Distributing Thousands of Free DVD Copies of 'Obsession' at DNC

[http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/southflorida/sfl-flpmuslim0927pnsep27,0,5242135.story Trento said he and his volunteers passed out 10,000 copies at each presidential nominating convention this year. They plan to give out more at the vice presidential debate on Oct. 2 in St. Louis.] also "Altaf Ali, executive director of the South Florida Council on American Islamic Relations, said his organization has received hate mail as a result of the film's distribution."

Funding
Sources and amount of funding for production and distribution of the movie remain unknown.

28 million copies in 74 newspapers

The Clarion Fund paid The Chronicle of Higher Education $28,000 to distribute 70,000 DVDs.

"The Endowment for Middle East Truth, ... arranged distribution of ‘Obsession’, at a cost in the tens of millions."

Talk
The notable controversy stems from the movie and its distribution. The article needs sufficient content to provide context should the article get printed and read without access to wikipedia and the links. Some background on the participants seems appropriate.

The controversy has yet to warrant a separate article.