‘Coexistence, My Ass!,’ About Israeli Comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi, Wins the Golden Alexander at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival

variety.com:

Leo Barraclough International Features Editor Amber Fares’ “Coexistence, My Ass!,” which centers on Israeli comedian Noam Shuster-Eliassi, won the Golden Alexander in the International Competition section of the 27th Thessaloniki Intl.

Documentary Festival Sunday. The International Competition jury, which is composed of director and photographer Dimitris Athiridis, filmmaker Lauren Greenfield and producer Signe Byrge Sørensen, said: “With a compellingly constructed narrative and a fearless challenge to every taboo in the [Middle East] region, Noam’s disarming voice and humor invite the audience to a deeper understanding as we laugh and cry with her, and reconsider our biases with open minds and hearts.” The film, which was described by Variety‘s reviewer as “urgent, eye-opening and enormously compassionate,” won the World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression at the Sundance Film Festival.

The Thessaloniki win makes the film eligible for the documentary category of the next Academy Awards. The Silver Alexander in the International Competition went to “Free Leonard Peltier,” directed by Jesse Short Bull and David France.

The film, which focuses on Native American activist Leonard Peltier, “speaks to the history of human rights abuses against the Native Americans, and their multi-generational resistance, while highlighting the ongoing struggle over their sovereign nation land rights and resources,” the jury said.