West Bank Story

Nothing is sacred in this parody of a musical comedy, set in the fast-food world of competing falafel stands in the West Bank. David, an Israeli soldier, falls in love with Fatima, the beautiful Palestinian cashier at the neighboring chickpea purveyor. This Sundance hit would have Shakespeare and Leonard Bernstein either spinning in their graves--or tapping their toes.

Ari's career in the entertainment industry includes television, film, and music videos. His acclaimed short film, West Bank Story, is a fresh and irreverently funny look at a serious and, seemingly, unsolvable conflict. The film joins Ari's passion for politics with his natural penchant for comedy. He hopes to use his talents in the future to both entertain and provoke thought and dialogue through film, exercising his proclivity for storytelling. Previously, Ari created and hosted the comedic TV segment, The Traveler, for the FX Channel's, The X Show . Ari wrote, directed, and hosted the segment as he traveled the globe, offering a tongue in cheek view of the world's unknown hot spots for the young and hip. A leader within the University of Southern California's Graduate School of Cinema-Television, Ari founded and presided over USC's "Entertainment Industry Network." The EIN was developed to increase collaboration between graduate students and leading industry professionals. At Ari's completion of his M.F.A, graduating Magna Cum Laude, the EIN had grown to 350 members and is now a permanent part of the film school. He has also traveled extensively throughout the Middle East and is very involved with various political organizations for peace in the region. Mentored by such producers as Gary Lucchesi and Robert Chartoff, Ari plans to direct feature films which integrate his gift for comic timing and his love of filmmaking.