Middle East Sendup: Academy Award Winning West Bank Story Mixes Comedy, Conflict, and Song

It's Shakespeare on the Jordan River when two star-crossed lovers are forced to battle traditional Israeli-Palestinian conflicts with two unusual weapons - music and comedy - in the short film West Bank Story. The plot centers around David, an Israeli soldier, and Fatima, a beautiful Palestinian cashier, who are caught in a running feud between their families' competing falafel stands in the West Bank. The film's even-handed humor and insightful gags are specifically designed to break open old prejudices and allow audiences to see the potential for a peaceful outcome in the Middle East, which is often dogged by seemingly endless controversy.

Writer/director Ari Sandel conceived the film as his graduate thesis at the University of Southern California's (USC's) School of Cinematic Arts, hoping to draw attention to the perennial conflict while sharing a message of hopeful harmony through humor, song, and dance. The mock musical, which has garnered a boatload of awards including the 2007 Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film, packs a punch into a mere 21 minutes. A clever script with parodies of the classic West Side Story, including dance numbers complete with finger-snapping gangs, plus top-notch production values engage audiences from the first frame. However, producing a complex film on a modest budget of approximately $75,000 - little of which was earmarked for post production - required its own measure of resourcefulness and chutzpah.

  "[When director Ari Sandel] told me that he had no money [for editing], I said, 'I have an Avid Xpress Pro at home. We can do it in the garage at my place.'"
- Avi Youabian, Editor, West Bank Story

No Shortage of Quality

Honing the 16 tapes of dailies with 640 minutes of footage from the original shoot down to 21 minutes was no small feat. A close collaboration between editor Avi Youabian and Sandel helped to infuse the film with just the right creative touches.

Youabian's involvement began in pre-production, reviewing storyboards to ensure that the proper coverage was obtained, particularly for transitions, which Youabian finds essential for music-intensive films. "Movies that inspire me the most are the ones that never stop, in that you forget you are watching a film, and transitions are important to keep a story moving, especially with a musical. When you are working with music, the songs always have a beginning and an end. That's problematic for a film because you start and stop a lot," explains Youabian. "I used a lot of pre-lapping sound effects and music to connect scenes and various musical numbers. It was sort of a tribute to the movies I love, like Moulin Rouge."

Youabian visited the set during the 14-day shoot on a ranch just outside of Los Angeles, so he could absorb the tone and style of the film during production. Then he began cutting the first assembly. "It was extremely long [for a short film] at 32 minutes, and there were musical numbers that were redundant or not that funny. Ari was not precious at all about the material. We pow-wowed and played with it, losing an entire dance number that he had spent a lot of time on - choreographing, writing the music, hiring the dancers. Having him be open enough to say, 'Yes, let's lose that," was great – and a quality you don't often find in a first-time director," he says. 

Youabian, also a graduate of USC, earned his stripes as an editor of music videos and numerous short films prior to taking on West Bank Story. His experience with musical material on previous short films, particularly When the Kids Are Away, which previewed to strong reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2003, is what prompted Sandel to approach him to work on the project.

West Bank Story

"At first I didn't want to do another short film," says Youabian, who at the time was making the transition to paying gigs in the television industry. "Then I read the script, and I loved it. It had a really great message, and Ari wanted to put on a big production." Sandel had already lined up a partially donated package of 35mm camera equipment to shoot the film and was planning for a digital intermediate mastering process. "It was at that point that he told me that he had no money [for editing]," continues Youabian. "And I said, 'I have an Avid Xpress Pro at home. We can do it in the garage at my place.'"

Youabian's Macintosh-based Avid Xpress Pro system was equipped with Avid Mojo hardware, which enabled him to handle a variety of inputs and outputs quickly, including outputs to VCR tapes and DVDs for screenings and imports of stock shots from DVD. This setup allowed him to use a second client monitor for easy viewing of cuts-in-progress. He also connected his television and surround sound system to handle temp mixes.

"At first I didn't want to do another short film. Then I read the script, and I loved it. It had a really great message."
- Avi Youabian, Editor, West Bank Story

A Balancing Act

Sandel and his creative team believed that the film's success would hinge on its even-handed portrayal of Jews and Arabs in every aspect of the filmmaking. This balance included the number of jokes made at each groups' expense, the number of real-life Arabs and Jews in the cast, and the number of shots that featured each of the characters. Even the music features an equalizing blend of Palestinian-style rhythms, Jewish Klezmer sounds, and American Broadway musicals.

West Bank Story

During editing, Youabian employed a simple color-coding scheme to literally help him "see" whether the film's scenes tended to favor one group over another, so he could make any necessary corrections. He used the Avid system's Group Clip feature to group all takes into two main groups: the Arabs, which he displayed in red, and the Jews, which he displayed in blue. "I would drop a group in [to the timeline] and cut with the colors in the background. I could quickly look at the timeline and see the balance between the Arabs and Jews. It would be obvious when there was too much red or blue in a sequence," he explains.

After five or six screenings to small audiences, the filmmakers re-worked those few sections of the film that viewers found potentially offensive, and then they started shopping the film to festivals. It turned out to be an easy sell. The film screened at more than 115 festivals worldwide, including the 2005 Sundance Film Festival, and garnered 25 awards on the festival circuit. "When we got to Sundance, we thought it wouldn't get better than that. That was our goal," says Youabian. Then came the Oscar in the spring of 2007.

Since editing West Bank Story two years ago, Youabian has edited several television shows including Cold Case and the new series October Road. While his project work has been varied, his professional toolset has not. "Every show I've done has been on Avid [systems]," he says.

"I've played with Final Cut Pro, but sometimes it takes more than one keystroke to do what I want. I wanted to go back to Avid."

Youabian is delighted by and amazed at the long and successful run that West Bank Story has enjoyed since its premiere in early 2005, showing on every continent but Africa. The film's success is likely tied to its light-hearted, pro-peace message and its belief that even long-entrenched warring factions can have more commonality than differences. And, of course, there is the singing, the dancing, and the hummus. Can world peace be far behind?

Check out some of Avi Youabian's favorite work at http://www.aviyouabian.com/.

* CREDIT: Images © 2005 Ari Sandel. All Rights Reserved.