Ari Sandel is the director of the short film, West Bank Story

West Bank Story

West Bank Story is a comedy/musical short film, directed by Ari Sandel, co-written by Sandel and Kim Ray, produced by Pascal Vaguelsy, Amy Kim, Ashley Jordan, Ravi Malhotra, Bill Boland and featuring choreography by Ramon Del Barrio. The film is a parody of the classic musical film West Side Story,...

, which won the 2006 Academy Award

79th Academy Awards

The 79th Academy Awards ceremony , honored the best films of 2006 and took place on February 25, 2007 at the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood on ABC. Ellen DeGeneres hosted the ceremony for the first time. The producer was Laura Ziskin. The announcers were Don LaFontaine and Gina Tuttle.The nominees were...

 in the category Best Short Film (Live Action).

Sandel was raised in Calabasas, California

Calabasas, California

Calabasas is an affluent city in Los Angeles County, California in the western United States. It is located in the hills in the southwestern San Fernando Valley and the Santa Monica Mountains between Woodland Hills, Agoura Hills, West Hills, and Malibu, California. As of the 2010 census, the city...

 and studied Media Arts at the University of Arizona

University of Arizona

The University of Arizona is a land-grant and space-grant public institution of higher education and research located in Tucson, Arizona, United States. The University of Arizona was the first university in the state of Arizona, founded in 1885...

 in Tucson

Tucson, Arizona

Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...

 where he also received a special certificate in Middle Eastern Studies. He went on to earn his Directing M.F.A. from the University of Southern California

University of Southern California

The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...

's school of Cinema-Television. West Bank Story premiered at the Sundance Film Festival

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...

 and has screened at over one hundred fifty film festivals worldwide, winning prizes from 30.

Sandel also directed a 2006 documentary, Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland

Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - Hollywood to the Heartland

Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights – Hollywood to the Heartland is a comedy documentary film directed by Ari Sandel and follows the 30 day comedy of tour of several stand up comedians. It premiered September 8, 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival...

, which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival

Toronto International Film Festival

The Toronto International Film Festival is a publicly-attended film festival held each September in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. In 2010, 339 films from 59 countries were screened at 32 screens in downtown Toronto venues...

.

In addition to film making, Sandel has also traveled in Europe, Asia, South America and extensively throughout the Middle East including Israel and the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, Morocco, Jordan, Turkey, and Dubai and is very involved with various political organizations with interests in the region.

External links