GOLDEN FALAFEL OSCAR GOES TO MIDEAST TALE TOLD THROUGH FOOD.

Byline: Fred Shuster

Staff Writer

Calabasas golden boy Ari Sandel has picked up his first golden guy.

The filmmaker's "West Bank Story," which tells of competing falafel stands in the West Bank, won the live action short film Oscar. The film has previously won 25 film festival awards in 20 countries before the gold bald man came its way Sunday.

Sandel's 22-minute musical comedy takes a humorous look at the problems between Israel and Palestine. Audiences on both sides of the fence have embraced the film.

"I wanted to make it evenhanded, hopeful and pro-peace," Sandel, 32, said backstage at the Kodak Theatre. "Whether it's going to make a difference, I don't know. If you can change a few minds ... there's just a sea of negativity out there."

Sandel's "West Bank Story" was the only American-made film nominated in the Oscars' live action short film category. It tells of an Israeli soldier who falls in love with a beautiful Palestinian cashier, despite animosity between their families' dueling adjacent restaurants.

"I wanted to show how similar both sides really are, and I figured what better way than to reduce the entire conflict to two warring falafel joints," said Sandel, a USC film school graduate raised in Calabasas, who directed, co-wrote and co-produced the film.

Sandel's next film is "Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show," a feature-length documentary about stand-up routines at the Comedy Store in Hollywood.

Fred Shuster, [phone]

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Filmmaker Ari Sandel, a Calabasas resident, won for "West Bank Story," a musical with a humorous look at Mideast tension.