Amber Fares’ “Coexistence, My Ass!,” which follows Israeli comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi as she grapples with the escalating Israeli-Palestinian conflict, has won the Golden Alexander in the International Competition section of the 27th Thessaloniki International Documentary Festival (TiDF), which concluded on Sunday.
“With a compellingly constructed narrative and a fearless challenge to every taboo in the 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 jury said.
The Thessaloniki win qualifies the film for the documentary category at the next Academy Awards.
The Golden Alexander in the Newcomers Competition was awarded to “How to Build a Library,” directed by Maia Lekow and Christopher King, which follows two Kenyan women on a mission to restore a public library in Nairobi.
“With passion, the filmmakers expose the lasting imprints of colonialism while celebrating activism and the fight of two female friends for truly accessible public spaces; places where people can engage with their own narratives and histories,” the jury noted.
The Golden Alexander in the >>Film Forward section – dedicated to films that “experiment with the form and method of documentary filmmaking” – went to “Endless Cookie,” directed by Seth Scriver and Peter Scriver.
The Canadian animated feature documentary, presented through a series of vignettes – some tragic, some humorous, all slightly surreal – explores the complex bond between two half-brothers, one Indigenous and one white, spanning from bustling 1980s Toronto to the present-day isolated First Nations community of Shamattawa.
The jury described it as a “sharp and funny meditation on ‘a film within a film,’ on family community and shared culture. It’s a celebration of the soundtrack of the everyday life that takes us inside a world that is rarely accessed without condescension.”
For the full list of awards, click here.