A video of a Syrian boy braving sniper fire to save a young girl swept the web last week, and Norwegian filmmakers have claimed credit for the film's creation.
The video, titled "Syrian Hero Boy rescue girl in shootout," depicts civilians in the war-torn country running from sniper fire in the streets, including a young boy who falls after appearing to be shot and rises again in order to guide a girl from the danger. The footage was captured from a shaky camera, with men in the background chanting Takbirs and crying out in amazement.
The video was uploaded to YouTube on Nov. 10 and quickly went viral. One version shared by the Shaam News Network has nearly 4 million views.
On Friday the group that posted the video released a statement claiming it was fictional:
"The film appears to show an authentic phone- or amateur video recording, but is in fact a short fiction film released in the hopes to create political action and debate and focus on innocent children growing up in war."
The video was crafted by a group of independent filmmakers from Norway who shot the scenes in Malta with funding from the Norwegian Film Institute and the Arts Council Norway, the statement read.
Other videos have emerged showing actors, including the children depicted in the original short, taking instructions from an English-speaking director.
In an op-ed for Human Rights Watch, special advisor Fred Abrahams denounced the video and said that Norwegian filmmaker Lars Klevberg has "cast doubt on the videos and photographs of real atrocities that have emerged from the Syria war."
"By releasing a fake video, Klevberg has made it easier for war criminals to dismiss credible images of abuse," Abrahams wrote. "More broadly, his deception helps erode the public's trust in war reporting."
