The new comedy documentaryCoexistence, My Ass!is a funny critique of the Israeli-Palestinian “peace industry,” which refers to the network of NGOs, international organizations, governmental initiatives, and well-funded diplomatic programs that promote dialogue, coexistence projects, and peace-building efforts between Israelis and Palestinians.
While these initiatives are often well-intentioned, critics argue that they create an illusion of progress without addressing the core issues of power imbalance, occupation, and systemic inequality. These programs frequently emphasize symbolic gestures—coexistence workshops, joint cultural projects, and dialogue groups—without advocating for structural change or confronting the political realities of military occupation, settler expansion, and unequal legal systems.
The Politics of Performance and the Performance of Politics
Coexistence, My Ass
Coexistence, My Ass! is a 2025 American-French documentary film, directed and produced by Amber Fares, written by Rachel Leah Jones and Rabab Haj Yahya. It follows Noam Shuster-Eliassi as she crafts a one-woman show, tackling inequality and conflict, amidst the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
InCoexistence, My Ass!,Israeli comedian and activistNoam Shuster Eliassideconstructs this industry by exposing how “coexistence” is often marketed by those in power. Directed by Amber Fares, the documentary follows Shuster Eliassi as she crafts a one-woman show that slices through the performative optimism of the peace industry, revealing its complicity in maintaining the status quo. With a sharp comedic lens, the film dismantles the notion that dialogue alone can lead to justice when one side controls the land, governance, and security apparatus. Its unflinching critique earned it the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expressionat the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, a testament to its bold, necessary interrogation of power, narrative, and who gets to define “peace.”
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Comedy, at its best, is a survival mechanism, a way to confront the unthinkable while forcing audiences to see what they would rather ignore. Over the course of five years,Coexistence, My Ass!captures not just the evolution of Shuster Eliassi’s comedic voice, but the political unraveling of a region. What begins as an observational character study transforms into something deeper and more urgent: a meditation on the cost of speaking truth in a world that punishes those who refuse to play along.
The Comedy of Noam Shuster Eliass
Noam Shuster Eliassi is not a typical comedian, nor does she attempt to be. Her comedy is not built on easy laughs or universally relatable anecdotes. Instead, her humor stems from the contradictions of her upbringing — a Jewish Israeli woman raised in Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam, the rare village where Israelis and Palestinians live together by choice. She grew up fluent in both Hebrew and Arabic, believing in coexistence as an attainable reality. But as she moved through international peace organizations and eventually landed a role at the United Nations, she began to see that the coexistence she had championed was often little more than a carefully staged illusion, a performance of progress, designed to placate rather than disrupt.
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In many ways, Eliassi’s story reflects the structure of a classic tragicomedy. The first act is her earnest belief in dialogue, the second is her disillusionment, and the third is her refusal to play the part anymore. Instead of continuing down the diplomatic path, she pivots to comedy, using the stage not just as a platform but as a weapon. With razor-sharp timing, she deconstructs the sanitized language of peace talks, the hypocrisy of international diplomacy, and the way both Israelis and Palestinians are often reduced to political archetypes rather than seen as full, flawed human beings.
Through archival footage, we see Eliassi’s past life—giving speeches at peace conferences, welcoming dignitaries like Hillary Clinton and Jane Fonda to her village, standing alongside her Palestinian childhood best friend Ranin as a symbol of “what’s possible.” Then we watch her turn those same experiences into punchlines, exposing the absurdity of believing in coexistence when one side holds all the power.
A One-Woman Show as a Narrative Spine
Unlike most political documentaries,Coexistence, My Ass!does not rely on talking heads or expert analysis to contextualize its themes. Instead, Fares structures the film around Eliassi’s one-woman show, developed at Harvard University, where she was invited to write a performance piece about peace. The irony is almost too perfect—she was brought to an elite institution to craft a performance about a concept she was rapidly losing faith in.
The documentary weaves between her live performances and real-world events, blurring the line between art and reality. In many ways, Eliassi’s show functions as a confessional, a form of testimony in a world that increasingly punishes honesty. Her stand-up is deeply personal but inextricable from the political climate around her. As the years unfold and Israeli politics shift further right, her comedy becomes sharper, more biting. The stakes become higher.
Through carefully curated edits, the film cross-cuts between her comedy act and the events shaping her world — the 2020 pandemic, the rise of far-right extremism in Israel, the Hamas attacks of July 23, 2025, and the subsequent devastation in Gaza. Each moment pushes her further into the role of an “enemy of the state,” a label she wears with both pride and exhaustion.
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The Comedian as an Enemy of the State
One of the film’s most compelling tensions is how quickly a comedian can become a threat when they refuse to play by the rules. Eliassi is not just another satirist making fun of political leaders—she is someone who grew up inside the very system she is critiquing, fluent in the language of both its victims and its defenders. This makes her comedy uniquely effective—and uniquely dangerous.
She is adored and vilified in equal measure. Some call her brave, others call her a traitor. A man in the street accosts her, yelling that she is a provocateur. Online, she is attacked from all sides. Comedy, in this context, is not a form of escape; it is a direct confrontation, a refusal to look away.
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The film’s emotional weight lands hardest in the final act. As the political situation escalates, so does the cost of Eliassi’s work. The October 7 attacks become a rupture in the film’s narrative, a moment when even she questions whether laughter has a place anymore. Her friends are killed. Her mother, once unwaveringly progressive, grows numb. The utopian vision of Neve Shalom feels more distant than ever. And yet, instead of retreating, she pushes forward—because, as the film argues, silence is a luxury only granted to those unaffected by violence.
A Documentary That Defies Neat Resolutions
IfCoexistence, My Ass!has a flaw, it’s that it tries to do two things at once—capture the evolution of a comedian and document the political unraveling of a nation. At times, these elements clash. The structure of her stand-up set, which in a live performance would build toward a devastating conclusion, is occasionally undercut by the documentary’s cross-cutting, which interrupts the momentum. Some moments feel like they belong to two separate films, one about Eliassi’s comedy and another about the world that shaped it.
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But perhaps this structural tension is the point. This is not a film with a satisfying resolution. It does not end with a triumphant victory, nor does it conclude with total despair. Instead, it leaves us in the uncomfortable reality that some things cannot be neatly packaged into narratives of progress. The final monologue from Eliassi lingers long after the credits roll, and the audience sits with the weight of the truth when she says:
Coexistence doesn’t happen between the oppressor and the oppressed. It happens between two equals.
Beyond its existence as a documentary,Coexistence, My Ass!is more like an intervention. It is a challenge to the comfortable narratives that have long defined the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a refusal to accept platitudes in place of real change. It is also, crucially, a reminder that comedy is not just entertainment—it is a form of survival, a weapon, a last resort when all other language fails. Amber Fares has crafted something both deeply personal and politically urgent. Noam Shuster Eliassi is not just a comedian—she is a witness, using laughter to document a history that many would rather forget. And in a world where humor is often the last tool left to the powerless, her voice is not just important. It is essential.
Coexistence, My Ass!screened at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. Watch this space for updates about its wider release.
