|
Director of ‘West Bank Story’ says comedy sets to present positive,
balanced position in support of peace.
By Nirit Anderman
Meddle East
Online
 A short musical comedy about rival Palestinian and Israeli falafel stands
in the West Bank was awarded the Oscar for best live action short
film Sunday.
"Oh my God," Ari Sandel, the director of "West Bank Story," said in
accepting the award. "I made a comedy, a musical about Israelis and
Palestinians that takes place between two falafel stands in the West
Bank. It's a movie about peace and hope."
"To get this award goes to show that there are so many people who support
that notion," said the California-born director, adding that the
aspiration for peace was not "hopeless".
The film focuses on two fast food stands that specialize in falafel and
hummus -- "Kosher King," run by Jewish West Bank residents, and
"Hummus Hut," run by Palestinians.
The pretty cashier Fatima and the sweet Israel Defence Forces soldier
David fall in love despite the rivalry between their families, but
the love story, laden with serenades and veiled glances, leads to
the destruction of the two restaurants. At the end of the film, both
sides are forced to work together to fill local residents' endless
appetite for hummus.
"I was always interested in politics, primarily the Middle East
conflict," said Sandel, 32, the film's co-writer, in a phone
interview with Ha'aretz from his home in Los Angeles. He said he is
active in several political organizations, including Peace Now.
"I studied Islam and Judaism in college, and visited many countries in
the Middle East, including Israel, Palestine, Egypt, Morocco,
Jordan, Turkey and Dubai. I've watched around 100 documentaries
about the conflict, and found that almost all of them were
pro-Israeli or pro-Palestinian. They were full of information,
interesting and fascinating, but almost all are depressing and
devoid of any hope.
"I decided I wanted to make a film that would give viewers a feeling that
there is hope, because I really do believe peace between the sides
is possible, that it can happen."
Even though he visits Israel every year, Sandel, whose mother is American
and whose father is Israeli, repeatedly noted that he was careful to
maintain balance in his film.
"I wanted to create a film that would do three things: draw attention,
make people laugh and present a positive and balanced position in
support of peace," he said. "It was important to me to be very
careful to maintain balance and equality between the sides, because
most films show only one side of the conflict and then viewers from
the other side feel the movie is biased."
Therefore, workers at both restaurants are dressed in ridiculous
uniforms, and there are equal numbers of jokes about both sides. The
Palestinian cashier, for example, fires rounds from an automatic
weapon at the ceiling when she greets customers at the Hummus Hut.
And when the Israelis plan to build a separation fence between the
restaurants, the Palestinians burst into laughter: "Jews and
construction? That's the funniest thing we've ever heard."
Sandel chose a musical comedy, he said, because this is "a way of
abstracting the story of the conflict, taking the suffering out of
it so that people can let down their defences and identify with the
characters on both sides. I knew that dances and songs would make
the subject more light-hearted, more accessible. It's a lot easier
to see Jews and Arabs dancing together than to see them fighting.
After all, dancing is so far removed from what people usually think
about Jews and Arabs."
Yuval Ron, an Israeli composer living in Los Angeles, wrote the
soundtrack and integrated Arabic and Israeli music with jazz. Sandel
noted that he chose Israeli actors to play the Jewish characters and
Palestinian actors to play Hummus Hut workers. And indeed, when
things heat up on the screen, the characters from both sides drop
English and start cursing in their Semitic languages.
The movie was filmed in Santa Clarita, near Los Angeles, in a quasi-Arab
city a local resident set up on his ranch. The place is frequently
used by the American film industry.
"West Bank Story" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival two years ago
in the short film competition. The film's website notes that it has
been screened at 111 festivals, and has won prizes at 23 of them.
Sandel related that he showed the film at the Dubai Film Festival, among
others, and many Palestinians approached him and asked for a copy to
show to their relatives in the territories.
|
