team
Noam Shuster Eliassi • Subject
Noam Shuster Eliassi is an activist-comedian who writes and performs in Arabic, English, and Hebrew (with a touch of Farsi), frequently touching upon her experiences growing up in the “Oasis of Peace” (Neve Shalom/Wahat al-Salam), an intentional mixed community where Palestinians and Jews live together by choice. Her satirical videos, critiquing political hypocrisy and human rights abuses, have gone viral throughout the Arab world. In 2019, Noam became the first Jewish performer to play the Palestine Comedy Festival. Her one-woman show, “Coexistence, My Ass!”, was developed at Harvard University and received a four-star review at the 2023 Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
Amber Fares • Director/Producer/Cinematographer
Amber Fares is an award-winning documentary filmmaker best known for her directorial debut SPEED SISTERS (Hot Docs, 2015), which aired internationally on Netflix, Al Jazeera and Rai. Her directing credits include WE ARE AYENDA (Amazon, 2023), GUTSY ep5 (Apple TV, 2022), RECKONING WITH LAUGHTER (Al Jazeera’s “Witness,” 2021), CONVERGENCE: COURAGE UNDER CRISIS (Netflix, 2021). Amber also served as cinematographer and co-producer of the Peabody Award-winning THE JUDGE (PBS, 2017), was the cinematographer on LIFE AFTER (Sundance 2025) and both produced and shot the short film THE DEVIL IS BUSY (HBO 2025). A Sundance Momentum Fellow and Pillars Artist Fellow, Amber is a Canadian based in New York.
Rachel Leah Jones • Writer/Producer
Rachel Leah Jones is an award-winning nonfiction filmmaker whose critically acclaimed work has centered on Israel/Palestine and the interrelated struggles for social and political justice. She is best known for her films ADVOCATE (Sundance, 2019), which won an Emmy for Best Documentary and was shortlisted for the Oscars; GYPSY DAVY (Sundance, 2012); ASHKENAZ (San Francisco Jewish FF 2007; San Franciso Arab FF 2007); and 500 DUNAM ON THE MOON (Human Rights Watch FF, 2002). A documentary branch member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Rachel, currently based between Tel Aviv and Marseille, speaks English, Hebrew, Arabic, and French.
Rabab Haj Yahya • Editor/Writer
Rabab Haj Yahya is a documentary editor best known for Assia Boundaoui’s THE FEELING OF BEING WATCHED (Tribeca, 2018 / POV, 2019), ANOTHER BODY (SXSW, 2023), HBO’s THE LEGEND OF THE UNDERGROUND (Tribeca, 2021), the Emmy-nominated APART (Hot Docs, 2021) and Amber Fares’s SPEED SISTERS (2015). She is a Sundance Institute Documentary Edit and Story Lab advisor (2023) and has served as a mentor for the Documentary Contributing Editor Fellowship 2024, Brown Girls Doc Mafia, Chicken & Egg and the Karen Schmeer Film Editing Fellowship 2022-2024. A documentary branch member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Rabab is based in New York.
Philippe Bellaïche • Cinematographer
Philippe Bellaïche is an award-winning cinematographer best known for ADVOCATE (2019 Sundance, Winner of the Asia Pacific Screen Awards, the Emmy Awards for Best Documentary and shortlisted for the Oscars), which he also co-directed and produced. His other credits include Avi Mograbi's AVENGE BUT ONE OF MY TWO EYES (Cannes, 2005), Arnon Goldfinger's THE FLAT (Tribeca, 2012), Shimon Dotan's THE SETTLERS (Sundance, 2016) and Rachel Leah Jones’ GYPSY DAVY (Sundance, 2012). Currently based in Tel Aviv, Philippe is both French and Israeli and speaks French, Hebrew, and English. A documentary branch member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Philippe, currently based between Tel Aviv and Marseille, speaks French, English, and Hebrew.
William Ryan Fritch • Composer
William Ryan Fritch is an award-winning composer and multi-instrumentalist living in Petaluma, California. Since 2008, he has composed the music for over 100 documentary and narrative films: including the 2021 Emmy winning documentary “The Rescue List,” the 2020 multiple Emmy nominated “Into the Canyon” for Disney +, the 2016 Academy Award, Peabody and Emmy nominated "4.1 Miles”, the 2022 multiple Emmy winning "Outlaw Ocean," the 2020 Peabody winning documentary “A Different Kind of Force", and the 2021 Independent Spirit Nominated narrative film “Bull.”