Coexistence, My Ass!

World Cinema Documentary Competition

Comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi creates a personal and political one-woman show about the struggle for equality in Israel/Palestine. When the elusive coexistence she’s spent her life working toward starts sounding like a bad joke, she challenges her audiences with hard truths that are no laughing matter. 

Coexistence, My Ass! in title, conception, and content brings a bold frankness and lens of great clarity to address perhaps the most critical issue of our time. Director Amber Fares makes her Sundance debut with this urgent documentary made over several years. With a narrative backbone of Noam Shuster Eliassi’s brilliant stand-up set developed and performed at Harvard University, the film documents not only the shifting perspective of Eliassi — a UN diplomat turned comedian — but also the developing realities in the region and the resulting seismically dynamic discourse surrounding it. Audiences will come away with a laugh, a tear, and an openness that feels all together like both a salve and a kick in the ass.

Run time: 95 minutes

Language: English, Hebrew, Arabic, Farsi with English subtitles