Lebanese Director & Screenwriter living in New York and Beirut, currently in development for his first fiction feature, having just completed his debut feature documentary, The Swing (2018), recipient of a grant from AFAC, and which had its world premiere in the documentary competition at the 53rd Karlovy Vary International Film Festival. His previous fiction short film, The President’s Visit (2017), premiered at the 42nd Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF), won the US National Board of Review (NBR) grant award, was shortlisted for a student BAFTA, won the Muhr Jury Prize at the 14th Dubai International Film Festival, and the Grand Jury Prize at the 49th Nashville Film Festival, making the film eligible for an Oscar nomination in 2019. It was a recipient of grants from the Doha Film Institute, the Katharina Otto-Bernstein Film Fund and the Ministry of Culture of Lebanon. Previous credits include short film Siham (2013), Jury Award at the 20th Palm Springs International ShortFest, LBC’s TV series Beirut, I Love You (2011, 2012), and Yahoo’s web-series Fasateen (2012), which both gathered several million views. Producing work include Submarine (2016), directed by Mounia Akl, official selection of the 69th Cannes Film Festival (Cinéfondation competition), TIFF, SxSW, won the Jury Award at the 13th Dubai Film Festival among other awards, and played in over 100 festivals worldwide. It was Staff picked by Vimeo, and received 350,000+ views. Apart from directing, Aris taught Film at Columbia University, NHSI at Northwestern University and Barnard College. Aris holds an MFA from Columbia University in the City of New York.