Ben & Ara

Ben Johnson is a struggling PhD candidate in the school of philosophy. It is his seventh year and this is the semester that he must finish his dissertation or all his work will be for nothing. He tries to jolt himself into action but soon tires of the activity. He takes a break and visits a local art gallery opening where he runs into a fellow PhD candidate. Her name is Ara. She is everything he is not: a successful, focused student about to get her doctorate, and a devout Muslim (he's fervently agnostic). She has sought some refuge that night in the art gallery as well. By happenstance (or fate) Ben catches her eye. They recognize each other instantly as they're in the same department. From this first meeting, the winds of fate set in and what follows is an unlikely romance between two people from different worlds. (Bushwick Film Festival)