DEMOCRACY NOW
Coexistence, My Ass! is a new documentary opening Wednesday in New York highlighting Noam Shuster Eliassi, an Israeli comedian and peace activist. Shuster Eliassi hopes for justice and equality for Palestinians and “to make present the elephant in the room” that a lot of artists in Israel “prefer to ignore.” We also speak with director Amber Fares, who says the film — like others dealing with the topic of Palestine — is struggling to find distribution in the United States but has six screenings already set up, including an opening at the IFC Center in New York City.
Transcript
This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González.
We end today’s show with a new documentary, opening tonight in New York at the IFC, about the Israeli comedian and peace activist Noam Shuster Eliassi. This is the trailer.
NOAM SHUSTER ELIASSI: Who is this tall lady? Is she Iranian? Is she Jewish? Is she Arab? Should I be boycotting this show?
TV ANCHOR 1: Noam Shuster.
TV ANCHOR 2: Noam Shuster.
TV ANCHOR 3: Noam Shuster.
TV ANCHOR 4: Shalom, Noam.
NOAM SHUSTER ELIASSI: Whoo! Mazel tov!
My parents said, “Let’s not raise our kids to be normal Israelis. Let’s move to the only place in the country where Jews and Palestinians live together by choice.”
NOAM’S MOTHER: Dreaming of peace. Dreaming.
NOAM SHUSTER ELIASSI: My best friend Ranin, she’s a Palestinian. She looks like Gigi Hadid. I look like Ahmadinejad next to her.
Palestinians know the things that I’m saying.
ANNOUNCER: Palestine Comedy Festival.
NOAM SHUSTER ELIASSI: The oppressed doesn’t come from an ignorant perspective. Never.
I’m only staying for seven minutes, not 70 years.
The Jewish audience is where we have to … work.
HARVARD PRESENTER: Noam Shuster Eliassi.
NOAM SHUSTER ELIASSI: It’s not a good time to be leftist in Israel. Not fun. It’s like not even — I just read the news. You’re [bleep].
UNIDENTIFIED: [translated] Without coexistence, I’ll be killed! Without coexistence, Arabs won’t be able to exist here!
INSTAGRAM REEL: In 24 hours, a thousand people were killed in Gaza Strip.
NOAM SHUSTER ELIASSI:
I’m not here to unify. My goal is to voice resistance to this insane show of force that has swept everyone up so blindly.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s the trailer for the new film. This is Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi.
NOAM SHUSTER ELIASSI: My mother is Iranian Jewish. My father is Romanian Jewish. They’ve been together since high school, so they basically grew up together. And they grew up to become the thing that Israelis love to hate the most: woke progressive leftists. They believe in the radical idea that Israelis and Palestinians deserve the same, equal human rights. Crazy. So radical. When I was 7 years old, they said, “Let’s not raise our kids to be normal Israelis. Let’s move to the only place in the country where Jews and Palestinians live together by choice.” Like on purpose.
This is where the inspiration comes from, Jews and Arabs living together.
NOAM’S MOTHER: Dreaming of peace. Dreaming.
AMY GOODMAN: That’s the clip from Coexistence, My Ass!, a new documentary about Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi. She was in her one-person show there. The film premiered at Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression.
We’re joined by Noam now in Tel Aviv, and here in New York by the film’s director, the Canadian Lebanese director Amber Fares.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Why did you do this film, Amber?
AMBER FARES: You know, Noam and I are old friends. Actually, I met her years ago when I was living in Ramallah, filming my first documentary. And when she came to the U.S. and was developing her one-woman show, I just saw it as an opportunity to sort of — you know, to tackle this topic in a completely different way, from a completely different perspective.
AMY GOODMAN: And I want to go to another clip of the film. Again, this is from Noam’s one-woman show [inaudible] Palestinian Comedy Festival in Sheikh Jarrah.
ANNOUNCER: Hello, hello! Hello, hello, hello! Good evening. Masa’ alkhayri! We’re very happy to be here tonight for the 1,001 Laughs Palestine Comedy Festival. Tonight, I have a surprise for you. A surprise. One of our comedians tonight is one of our Jewish brothers and sisters. Please help me welcome to the stage, Noam Shuster Eliassi!
NOAM SHUSTER ELIASSI: I’m only staying for seven minutes, not 70 years. By the way, this is Amer’s joke. I stole it. It’s mine now. God promised it to me.
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