Sep 13, 2012 No Comments ›› Pat Dollard
Headline Photo: A Santa Clarita production facility that may have been used for filming “The Innocence of Muslims.”
Excerpted from Pasadena Star News: An inflammatory anti-Muslim film that has been blamed in this week’s deadly attack on U.S. diplomats in Libya was produced by a Duarte-based Christian non-profit, officials said.
Media for Christ, which has its administrative offices south of the 210 Freeway in Duarte, took out a film permit for the production, according to City Manager Darrell George.
The producers also used Blue Cloud studios in Santa Clarita, also known as Blue Cloud Movie Ranch, as the film’s location, George said.
“It was filmed in Santa Clarita,” George said. He said he obtained the information from the L.A. County Sheriff’s Department.
George requested extra patrols from the sheriff’s Temple Station around the media company’s offices. He said there has not been any problems.
A Media for Christ employee reached by phone declined participating in the production.
“We didn’t film it and we’re against the movie because we respect all the religions,” said the man who declined to give his name.
According to public records, Media for Christ took out a business license in 2006 at the Duarte location.
Steve Klein, who claims to have consulted a Jewish filmmaker using the name Sam Bacile, said Media for Christ “had nothing to do with the filming of this movie.” But Klein also said he could not say where exactly the video was filmed.
It was “somewhere in California,” he said. “I don’t know where.”
Both Media for Christ and The Way TV are run by Joseph Abdelmasih of Arcadia, who is listed as chief executive officer for both entities, and president of Media for Christ, public records show.
Los Angeles Times: A Duarte-based Christian nonprofit received the filming permit to shoot an anti-Muslim movie that has been blamed for violent protests in Libya and Egypt, according to Deputy City Manager Karen Herrera.
A trailer for “Innocence of Muslims” depicts the the prophet Muhammad in a negative light and has sparked anger and condemnation around the world since it was posted on YouTube, then translated into Arabic and reposted earlier this month.
Herrera said Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department officials told her that Duarte-based Media for Christ pulled a permit to shoot the film last year, but she stressed the the film was not shot in that city as some media have reported.
FilmL.A. Inc., which coordinates film shoots around Los Angeles county, said the movie, under the working title “Desert Warriors,” was shot in Los Angeles County in August 2011, including a day of shooting at Blue Cloud Movie Ranch in Santa Clarita.
