Director of 'West Bank Story' left with an unfulfilled dream

Dubai: Ari Sandel, director of West Bank Story, says he had three dreams for the film. "I wanted this film to be screened at Sundance, Jerusalem and Dubai," he says.

While two of those dreams were realised, Jerusalem didn't accept the 20-minute film that uses a musical genre to satire the Israeli-Palestinian conflict but ultimately leaving viewers with the message that it's not a hopeless situation.

"It's testimony to this festival that they're braver and more open than Jerusalem, who funnily gave me the reason that they were worried about Palestinian sensitivities," Sandel says. Prompted by a passion for the subject and a desire to present in a manner that's never been done before, the 31-year old filmmaker says that he enjoys watching audience reactions to West Bank Story.

"There's three audiences. An audience that knows nothing about the conflict, an audience that's pro-Palestinian and an audience that's pro-Israeli and the pro-camps are the ones that have never watched or cared to see the other side," he says. Sandel, who is Jewish, said that he was surprised by audience reactions at his first DIFF screening to his identity.

"The funny thing is when we made this film, there was none of that Arab, Muslim, Jewish stuff. None of it. In fact as ethnic groups, we got along more because in an American context we're all brought closer by the fact that we're rooted in our cultures," he says. "But I'm just amazed at how some media, like Israeli radio asked me if there was ever any fighting on the sets. If anything it was a healthy competition to outdo fellow actors in the choreography and takes," he adds.

Sandel says that West Bank Story is not trying to offer a solution to a conflict that he believes is far too complex to address in any movie leave alone a 20-minute film however it brings a message of hope and that if people from the opposing camps can co-exist peacefully in other parts of the world, there will be a day when peace will find its way in the region.

"I believe in a two-state solution and I believe it will happen. I'm not making any political statement through the film and I'm certainly not lobbying the Jewish cause here. But, I'm just presenting the fact that it's not all hopeless."

Chopra confident about future of Bollywood

Indian director Yash Chopra has made a living from romance, but when asked if he's romantic, just laughs and says: "People say so, so it must be true."

Chopra is one of three honorees at this years film festival and two of his "favourite films" Lamhe and Veer-Zaara were screened as part of his felicitation.

"I've always worked on movies that were romantic in nature, but with Veer-Zaara the moment the Pakistan angle came in, the emotional and romantic aspects was manifold," he told Gulf News exclusively ahead of a press conference.

"I believe that India and Pakistan are two countries that are one. Politically they may never become one, but culturally they are one.

Same people, same food, same culture," he says.

On his long sabbatical before directing Veer-Zara, Chopra said that he just wasn't excited by anything until his son Aditya gave him the script. "I've spent a whole year with this movie and now I'm just thinking about what I could do next," he says.

Describing filmmaking in India in the present day as an exciting time, where audiences, concepts and the industry is changing, Chopra, who is a veteran said that he was "particularly pleased and confident about the future of Bollywood."

Complete interview with Yash Chopra in Sunday's Tabloid