On & Backstage: Best Live Action Short Film

Posted: Sunday, February 25th, 2007 by Michael van Poppel at 10.40 pm EDT.

CATEGORY: BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT FILM
AWARD RECIPIENT: ARI SANDEL
FILM: "WEST BANK STORY"

ONSTAGE
"And on another note, I know a lot of people in America are probably watching and asking, "What are the short films?" Well, a lot of them are made by directors who are trying to get noticed and I think in a lot of ways we represent the little guy because we don't have big studios behind us or big name actors or a lot of times the budgets we need and it relies on perseverance and stick-to-it-iveness and hustle and dedication and loyalty from a cast and crew who are doing it for pennies if not for nothing, so I'd be remiss if I were to take this award and not thank my co-writer Kim Ray, my producers Pascal Vaguelsy, Amy Kim, Ashley Jordan, Ravi Malhotra and my composer Yuval Ron.

And last but not least, the two people who never doubted me even when I doubted myself, my mother who's here in the audience, Kathy and my father Dan, who's watching. I love you. Thank you."

BACKSTAGE
Q. How you doing, congratulations.
A. I am good. Who is talking to me?

Q. From Variety.
A. Please.

Q. Hi, so you have a film here which sort of takes a light-hearted approach to what is a serious subject. I'm wondering what are your thoughts and whether treating something like this with some laughs can actually make a difference in the world? 
A. You know, I think when I initially intended to make the movie wanted to make it evenhanded and to be a movie that was hopeful and pro-peace. And whether it's going to make a difference, I don't know. 

The intention was I wanted to make a movie that Israeli and Jews would watch and finds themselves liking the Arab characters at that Arabs would watch and liking the Israeli characters and to feel, equally, fairly represented. And I think in doing so, the response from Jews and Arabs, Palestinians, Israelis specifically, has been really overwhelmingly positive. So, I think in that sense it was a success. If it's going to change the world or do anything else, probably not. But, you know, if you can change a few minds, I get letters and e-mails from people all over the world, Israeli soldiers, professors from the University of Qatar, Palestinians who ask for DVD and talk about how much the movie means to them. That there is somebody making something that's hopeful because there's just a sea of negativity out there.

Q. John Young from USC Daily Trojan. Just wondering, being a graduate, what steps can did you take from going from graduating film school to now ultimately holding an Oscar in your hand?
A. I don't have the slightest damn idea. You know, the film was a student film I made for my masters thesis and really my goal was to take it to Sundance, and we did that. That was really a dream come true. I never in my wildest dreams thought to even say my goal is the Oscars. That's absurd. So, the fact that it happened was a surprise. That fact that I was nominated is unbelievable. The fact that I'm sitting in the room and watching Ellen Degeneres and even hearing my name called is phenomenal. The rest is all gravy. You know.

Q. Thank you?
A. 94. Hold on. I'm going to milk it. Go ahead.

Q. I'm from the home town of your star Ben Newmark, and I just wanted to get a shout to out to him. I thought your cast was really great. Can you tell us what's next for you?
A. I have a movie with Vince Vaughn coming out -- the Vince Vaughn Wild West Comedy Show. It is a feature-length documentary that premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September. And it's supposed to have wide release, in, I think, in September. Stars Vince Vaughn and four comics. They travel the country, and it's a documentary about being a comic and traveling America. Anyone else? Thank you very much.

Q. (Inaudible)
A. I would like to say one more thing. I know because of the nature of the topic of this film, I got a lot of phone calls from people in the Arabic world and lots from Israeli people in the government and various peace organizations who really wanted know say something on-stage that talked about certain people on both sides who want peace and I was going to do it any ways, but I hope that because I think this is the first time for me to get an Oscar, to get an Oscar, to deal with this subject matter, I hope that you guys will put it in the paper and talk about the fact that there are people making hopeful movies and want people who want peace. Thanks a lot.