‘Coexistence, My Ass!’ Review – One Woman Laughing In The Face Of Tyranny [Sundance 2025]

Comedy is a universal language if done right and creatively. The world is on the right track to empathy and understanding through women like pro-Palestinian Israeli activist Noam Shuster Eliassi. Through her witty, carefully constructed comedy show Coexistence, My Ass!, which happens to be the title of this documentary as well, a bigger revelation about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict is revealed, and not in favor of radical Western propaganda.

Like every comedian in complete command of their tools, Noam doesn’t give answers or resolutions. She becomes the focal point of director Amber Fares’s documentary and the world becomes clearer through her. She shows from her unique POV the Palestinian plight and the conflicts that Israeli activists who fight to end the occupation go through. To say this documentary is for everybody is an understatement. It should be screened everywhere with Q&As held with Amber and Noam alike.  

Noam comes from a bilingual Israeli-Palestinian village called “Oasis of Peace” (Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam). It sounds like a haven, the only place in the whole country where Israelis and Palestinians live together by choice. The upbringing shows up on Noam who really evokes the feeling of a lost Arab cousin. She blends in with everybody, and her best friend since childhood is a Palestinian girl who used to be by her side accepting visits from American politicians and Hollywood celebrities who were in awe of this experiment of bringing two nations at war together. It’s as if the Western consciousness wants to believe this is possible so they can mark off this problem as one less thing to worry about on their agenda.

But Noam doesn’t choose the easy way out. She doesn’t want to be just another standup comedian. Her deep sense of justice and heightened social awareness take precedence as instilled in her by her educated, wonderful father. She emerges as a superstar, not just of the comedy scene, but of the youths who want to make the world a better place. Watching her as she navigates the thin rope between finding herself and navigating a turbulent political environment is both harrowing and empowering. To think of a young woman who could’ve chosen a completely different life deliberately seeking a hectic existence, where she constantly challenges herself, her beliefs, and her safety in her society is a remarkable act of bravery and resilience.

The director creates a slice-of-life documentary that takes the viewers on her hero’s journey. As the comedy dies out and a grim reality hits, one starts wondering whether there has ever been anything funny from the beginning, or if comedy emerges from the darkest pits of misery and oppression. Amber and Noam boldly lay out a difficult situation with such simplicity: here’s our Israeli friend Noam telling us that what is happening to the Palestinians is wrong and a blatant revoking of their right to claim their country. She doesn’t give solutions to a decades-old problem, but she explains the situation for what it is – Western propaganda and media lies aside. How can anyone not have a change of heart, or lack sensible judgment after watching this young woman’s search for truth and meaning in her controversial existence? She even questions the validity of the “Oasis of Peace” for what peace is there to the oppressed?

More young Israeli artists and filmmakers are stepping up to comment on the destruction of Gaza. With Yuval Abraham co-directing No Other Land and Noam using her comedy to speak the harsh truths no one wants to hear in Coexistence, My Ass!, a world where open conversations about difficult topics are possible. The Western world must finally open its eyes to the multiple narratives surrounding its taboo subjects, and the diverse voices telling the Western world, not what it wants to hear, but what it needs to. One finishes this film wanting to be best friends with this talented young woman. What a pleasure her company must be!

Coexistence, My Ass! had its World Premiere in the World Cinema Documentary Competition section of the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

Director: Amber Fares

Rated: NR

Runtime: 95m