Ariel Vromen

Ariel Vromen (; born February 14, 1973) is an Israeli film director, screenwriter and DJ, best known for directing the 2012 American film '' The Iceman''.

Life and career

Vromen grew up in the Ramat Aviv neighbourhood of Tel Aviv, Israel, in a family of Jewish descent. When he was 12, his parents bought him an 8mm camera. As a teenager, he used to shoot short films with his friends and later edit them.An interview with Ariel Vromen
''Haaretz'' May 21, 2013 In an interview with Haaretz he said, "It was my obsession, I shot more than 40 short films – about cops, criminals and even an alien who comes to earth and kills all men". Vromen spent his Israel Defense Forces military service at the Airborne Rescue And Evacuation Unit 669. After his service, he studied law at the University of Kent in England. During his stay in Europe, he was a DJ and later became a trance DJ. He attended a film school in New York at the age of 28.

In 2001, he wrote and directed the short film '' Jewel of the Sahara'' starring Gerard Butler. The film received positive reviews and was screened at a number of festivals. While making this film, an intern from a wealthy family accompanied Vromen to learn from him and at the end of his work on the film, Vromen got a US$900,000 cheque from the intern who told him "here is the money for your first feature film". This funding helped him make the thriller ''Rx''. Right after his work on ''Rx,'' he got an offer to direct a film called '' Danika''.

In 2005, after watching a documentary film on HBO about the serial killer Richard Kuklinski who worked for the mafia and murdered more than 125 people from the 1960s to the 1980s, Vromen began work on '' The Iceman''. Vromen and his co-writer, Morgan Land, read more than 1,000 pages of Kuklinski's criminal records. In August 2012, The Iceman was screened at the 69th Venice International Film Festival and was released worldwide in May 2013.

Vromen is also a acclaimed dj, and in 2019 remixed with Dimitri Vegas of the duo Dimitri Vegas and Like Mike the novelty hit Best Friend's Ass by the same duo, in duet with Paris Hilton.

Vromen was a leading advocate of Israel’s actions in Gaza post October 7th 2023, leading the charge by penning an open letter with many other supporters of Israel and hosting events to subdue dissent within Hollywood. His excitement over the potential “Trump Plan” led him to produce the AI film, “Trump Gaza” which depicted what Gaza would look like after the Palestinians had finally been displaced. The clip went viral and was seen by over 2 million people on YouTube as of April 2025.

Filmography as director

* '' Jewel of the Sahara'' (2001, short film)
* '' Rx'', aka ''Simple Lies'' (2005)
* '' Danika'' (2006)
* '' The Iceman'' (2012)
* ''Criminal'' (2016)
* ''Skeptical'' (2011, documentary film)
* '' The Angel'' (2018)
* ''1992'' (2024)

References

External links

*
The Scorecard Review interviewTimes of Israel article

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vromen, Ariel
1973 births
Jewish film people
Israeli film directors
Israeli male screenwriters
Israeli emigrants to the United States
Living people
Alumni of the University of Kent