She starts her show by introducing herself. Her mother is Jewish Iranian, and her father is a Romanian Jew, and together they are what Israelis love to hate the most: woke, progressive leftists.
This is Noam Shuster Eliassi, an Israeli stand-up comedian, who is the topic of Lebanese Canadian filmmaker Amber Fares’ latest documentary. Noam grew up in the tiny village Neve Shalom – Wahat al Salaam (Oasis of Peace) in the #Jerusalem foothills, where Jews and Palestinians for decades have tried to translate the idea of #coexistence into real daily life. With this background, she first tried to work for peace and mutual understanding through the usual diplomatic channels, and upon realising that this would never happen, she turned to comedy.
Hamas means excitement
«What forbidden words can we say, just for fun?» she says as part of her show. «Like ‘Hamas’… #Hamas also means excitement by the way!»
The venue is #Harvard University, where she is studying comedy writing. In the documentary’s opening scenes, she has a wonderful audience that eagerly awaits her responses to difficult and legitimate questions, such as whether she, as an Israeli Jew, should boycott her own show.
This masterful documentary is an intimate portrait of a woman dreaming about #peace and coexistence from her earliest years. She received scholarships for her work as a peace activist, met influential figures like #Hillary Clinton# and #Jane Fonda#, and secured a dream job at the #UN. But at a certain stage, she noticed and got inspired by a Ukrainian comedian who actually became president of his country. This is where she realised the way to follow her dream.
But at a certain stage, she noticed and got inspired by a Ukrainian comedian who actually became president of his country.
It is a difficult path. In present-day #Israel, very few find it sexy to mingle politics with stand-up comedy, but on the other hand, she finds it tiresome to talk about laser hair removal with a funny Iranian twist during a whole show. In many ways, she is first of all considered to be a political person, and she gets numerous invitations to speak at protests and demonstrations. Her clever and experienced parents warn her against that, because that will turn her into just another peace activist, and she will live with the constant threat of being beaten up by some right-wing hooligan.
«In the US, I am never afraid. I can say whatever I want, but here (in Israel) there is a much heavier price to pay,» she says. That describes in a very few words the difficult dilemmas connected to what she is doing.
Dancing the debka
Fares has created an extremely beautiful and important film. The production took a few years, during which Fares followed Noam with her camera. We get a golden insight into Noam’s personal development as an artist and a highly politically motivated comedian.
Bit by bit, Noam realises that the only way to get her message through is to be authentic and true to herself. Some people adore her, and some hate her. She is vilified and called ‘an enemy of the state’, which of course creates a lot of self-doubt, but during this process she learns to give voice to her doubts, anger and fears about the future.
An absolutely touching moment comes during the #pandemic. She gets infected in a rather bad way, and upon returning to Israel, she is put up in a Jerusalem luxury hotel together with other patients. There she finds herself in a situation where people of totally different world views and political backgrounds are simply forced to get along in the best possible way. Jews and Arabs together in a luxury Neve Shalom, as she calls it, where she witnesses right-wing Jewish nationalist dancing the #debka with Palestinians, and they do have a good time together despite the problematic situation.
Another turning point occurs on 7 October 2023, when her material takes on a darker tone and becomes more introspective. But at that point, she already had gathered a lot of experience in her field. With her show, named Coexistence, my ass! she has built up a steady audience. She is mostly performing in mixed areas, in #Haifa, in #Jaffa, in those theatres where she draws a lot of left-wing Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel.
This is the core of Noam’s amazing story. She has carved an important niche doing what she is best at, namely comedy. And by that, she has already reached far beyond the tiny oasis of Neve Shalom – Wahat al Salaam with its 65 or so inhabitants. There is still a very long way to go until she will be allowed to perform on prime-time Israeli television, but she has already done far more than most regular peace activists will obtain singlehandedly. For that reason, this documentary is worth it, for it gives hope for a better future. And besides that, it is a very well-made documentary.
