Why Filmmaker Ari Frenkel Is All In On His Jewish Rom-Com Feature

Ari Frenkel

Courtesy of Gil Eplan

Like many American Jews, Ari Frenkel reconnected with his faith in the wake of the October 7 terror attack on Israel nearly two years ago. “I am one of those October 8 Jews,” he admits over Zoom. “I just felt a calling to come back to my community, [but]

not in a religious sense.”

Born to Israeli parents in New Jersey, the 39-year-old actor/filmmaker did not grow up observant by any stretch of the imagination and while he’s never been a massive fan of “organized religion in general,” he has maintained a “spiritual” connection to Judaism for all these years. “I’ve always believed in God, but I just have my own personal relationship,” he explains. “I have an admiration for religious Jews that I didn’t have before, in the way that they can so bravely represent themselves in a environment that’s so hostile towards them.”

The worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust and the resultant explosion of global anti-Semitism that followed Israel’s ongoing campaign against Hamas in Gaza served as a major wake-up call for Frenkel. “I want to marry a Jewish woman,” he says. “I want to have a at least one Jewish baby. I never even thought about kids or dated Jewish women. Now, I’m like, ‘Oh, I guess this matters…’”

It also led to a profound shift in his view of Hollywood and the trajectory of his career. Once so rabid about booking acting gigs on mainstream film and television projects like Silicon Valley, American Crime Story, and No Hard Feelings, Homecoming, and Transparent, Frenkel has since become disillusioned with the storytellers he once idolized.

“Suddenly, some of the people I’ve worked for and with have have put out such heinous, awful commentary publicly that I’m embarrassed to have worked for and with them on things that may be my most reputable, commercial work,” he notes. “It really shattered my idea of what matters in terms of ‘Success.’ Who f—ing cares if you’re in a movie with a big director if that director hates you and your family, and wants them to die? I think it’s been very sad and disheartening to see so many people I admire say such ignorant things about my people on a daily basis.”

The jagged ideological division splitting his industry, paired with the uncertain future of entertainment and the concerning rise of artificial intelligence has inspired Frenkel to realize his debut feature film, See You on the Other Side, before it’s too late. “I fear that with the way AI is going so fast and the way the industry is going and the fear of [whether I’m]

going to get kicked out of this country for being a Jew, or, frankly, is it just going to feel so uncomfortable that I have to leave?” he muses. “I just kind of feel like, ‘This is it! Make it now!’”

To that end, he’s “blown up his life a little bit,” renting out his apartment in Los Angeles, selling his car, and moving back to his parents’ house in New Jersey to make the indie production, which he hopes to start shooting in the fall on an estimated budget of $300,000-$500,000, though prospective investors are still welcome to join. “I burned the ships. I’m all in,” he stresses. “I believe in this thing to a degree that people might say is delusional or insane. But I’m also like, ‘Isn’t that usually how it gets done?’”

Frenkel, who wrote the screenplay, will also direct, produce, and star in the semi-autobiographical Jewish rom-com that sounds like a mix between Paolo Sorrentino’s This Must Be the Place and Shawn Levy’s This is Where I Leave You. The story centers around a struggling musician (who just so happens to be Israeli-American) looking to fulfill the wishes of his late father by tracking down the man’s ex-girlfriend in order to tell her the bad news. “And in his search, his own ex-girlfriend comes into his life,” teases the filmmaker. “It’s the parallel of these two relationships during that time, and it follows him throughout the year of grief, focusing on this Israeli-American family.”

However, the Jewish/Israeli aspect is not the main focus of the film. If anything, it’s an incidental detail that Frenkel hopes will show that Jews and Israelis are not a monolith.

“I’ve seen a lot of American Jewish family stories, but I’ve never seen them about an Israeli-American family,” he says. “I wrote this movie that has nothing to do with the conflict, anti-Semitism, Israeli tech, Mossad or anything like that. It’s just a family going through a human experience of love and loss. I think that that is how we can connect to other people, to show that we are just like you. We are all the same. I truly believe that about any culture.”

While he hopes See You on the Other Side leads to more directing opportunities in future, Frenkel’s immediate hope is to change hearts and minds with an honest and heartfelt piece of cinema. “This is what I got,” he concludes. “I’ve literally put all my eggs in this basket, because I really believe in it and think it’s important. And even if one person is impacted in a positive way from it, then it was worth the time.”