The Compass – #Withdraw_Amira_Movie.. A hashtag that swept social media, in protest against the feature film that bears the name of Amira, and questions the lineage of the children of prisoners inside Israeli occupation prisons, who were born through smuggled sperm from their fathers.

The film, which represents Jordan in the nominations for the “Oscars” for the year 2022, was filmed there in 2019 in a co-production with Egypt and Palestinian parties.

The script of the film adopts the Israeli novel, through which it sheds light on the story of a girl named “Amira”, who was born through a smuggled sperm to her father, who is in the Israeli “Megiddo” prison, only to be surprised at a later period that this sperm belongs to an Israeli officer responsible for smuggling from inside the prison, after he was replaced The sample before it is handed over to the family.

“Safa” followed the details of the film, the resentment witnessed by the social networking sites, and the reactions of the institutions concerned with the affairs of prisoners, which refused to abuse the prisoners inside the occupation prisons and their children, and considered that the events of the film directly correspond to the narrative of the occupation, and completely contradict the truth.

Where did the idea for the movie come from? How was it modified in favor of the Israeli narrative?

between two novels

The search for an answer to the previous questions began in Istanbul, where Palestinian director Ammar al-Talawi resides, who told the “Safa” agency that he started writing the same script for the film in 2014, and is based on smuggling prisoners’ sperm outside the prison in an attempt for them to have children, bypassing the jailer’s restrictions.

Al-Talawy’s scenario, which began to be promoted in 2016 by production institutions, was called “Nefah” and is completely similar in the same idea to the movie “Princess”, as it enters a complex stage of conflict and doubts to prove the identity of the captive son.

What differs in the two novels is only the last scene of the film. For his part, Al-Talawi refutes the Israeli intelligence story by questioning the identity of the children, while the opposite scene in the movie “Princess” supports the occupation’s narrative by mixing lineages.

The last scene drawn by Al-Talawi shows that the occupation army stormed the house of a captive in search of him after he succeeded in escaping from prison, only to be surprised by a person who looks exactly like him at the age of sixteen. Palestinian.

As for the “Amira” scenario, it tries to suspect that the girl came as a result of the sperm smuggled from the captive, but rather belonged to an Israeli officer responsible for smuggling from inside the prison after he replaced the captive’s sperm with a sample of it.

suspicious

Director Al-Talawi has doubts about the possibility of leaking the script of his film, which proved with documents and correspondence that “Safa” obtained a copy of, that in 2016 he addressed several institutions to sponsor the film, including the Doha Production Institute and the Palestinian Film Production Fund of the Palestinian Ministry of Culture. But he did not receive a response at that time.

Al-Talawi confirms that he sent the script and the idea of ​​the film to local Palestinian channels, Jordanian and Jerusalem writers, and translated it into English for presentation to foreign donors, the last of which was in 2019.

Al-Talawi, who produced the Palestinian series “The Spirit,” fears the possibility of leaking the film’s script after these correspondences to many parties, expressing his dissatisfaction with the failure to adopt ideas that support the Palestinian narrative, and its exploitation by others inclined to support the Israeli narrative.

It is worth noting that many complaints and incidents have spread in recent years about the theft of scenarios, and the intellectual property of artworks.

On November 12, Jordan chose the movie “Princess”, directed by Mohamed Diab, to officially represent her in the 94th Academy Awards to compete in the international feature film category for 2022; The prizes will be announced in March of next year.

Searching for a life

The beginning of the idea of ​​smuggling sperm from prisons dates back to 2012, when the prisoner Ammar Al-Zaben went through that experience, and he had his first child through a smuggled sperm in August of the same year, he was named Muhannad.

Ammar’s experience opened the door to many attempts by dozens of prisoners, bringing the number of children born in 2015, through sperm smuggled from inside prisons, to 30 from 23 smuggled sperm.

In 2016, 28 prisoners tried to smuggle sperm and succeeded in giving birth to 38 children.

Attempts continued in 2017, so that 44 prisoners gave birth to 56 children, and the number rose to 67 children by the end of 2018, and then to more than 80 children in 2019, so that 12 prisoners were able to have children through the liberated sperm.

The children of prisoners who are born from smuggled pronunciations are called “Ambassadors of Freedom,” as in the year 2020, eight children joined their convoy, bringing the total number of births to 100 children, including 20 cases of twins, who were begotten by 70 captives.

The process of smuggling sperm goes through complicated stages, in which there is a lot of secrecy and care about the sample, for fear of damage on the way, as it is placed inside pens or small capsules.

The sample is stored in a special center for sperm freezing, and is used after preparing the prisoner’s wife for cultivation or for the process of IVF.”

Statistics indicate that the number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in the prisons of the occupation reached about (4,650) prisoners, until the end of October 2021, including (34) female prisoners, (160) minors, and about (500) administrative detainees.

The percentage of married prisoners is about 35%, according to the official Palestinian statistics of the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics.

liberated sperm

There were many angry reactions towards the film, the most prominent of which was the statement of the captive movement in the occupation prisons, which demanded in a statement today, Wednesday, all those who participated in the production, directing, acting and marketing of this crime against the honor and presentation of the prisoners, a public apology to the prisoners and “ambassadors of freedom” and their families.

In her statement, she said, “We are shocked by a group of Arabic speakers helping our captors – intentionally and unintentionally – in his fierce battle against our breath, which is liberated against his nose through the “liberated sperm”, by making and marketing the film Amira, in which its makers and promoters touched the struggles of the prisoners and their families.

The captive movement added, “Despite this evasion and denial of the truth, the main film producer in 2019 was contacted by the captive movement through several channels, the most important of which is one of the prisoners’ wives, who was carrying in her womb a “liberated sperm” objecting to the abusive plot, and offering the services of the captive movement. The entirety of it to help provide the correct narrative that goes against the original film rule.”

And she continued, “We explained to them the impossibility of trusting the jailer in simple matters, so how about the most sacred thing we have, “our sons who are from our loins?”

The captive movement denounced the ignoring of the film’s directors to the evidence and evidence that they had to present to them about stabbing and smashing the heads of some officers and jailers just because they tried to search our mothers, daughters and sisters in an inappropriate manner, so how is it possible to free a sperm from our worst enemies?!

Safa