About
Amber Fares is an award-winning filmmaker known for blending humor, emotional intimacy, and political insight to tell powerful, character-driven stories. She began her career in advertising before a transformative youth filmmaking initiative took her to Palestine in 2006. What was meant to be a six-month stay turned into seven years, during which she witnessed firsthand how storytelling can challenge entrenched narratives, build empathy, and empower communities. That experience launched her into documentary filmmaking, where she has built a distinct body of work centered on overlooked voices and unexpected forms of resistance.
Amber’s debut feature, Speed Sisters, about the first all-women race car team in the Middle East, premiered to critical acclaim and established her as a filmmaker with a unique ability to capture warmth, complexity, and joy in unlikely places. She went on to direct We Are Ayenda, centering the Afghan girls’ national soccer team, and has created award-winning branded content, including a short film for WhatsApp that won multiple Cannes Lions, among them the Grand Prix, and earned her Best Director at Sundance Brand Storytelling. She also served as the cinematographer and co-producer on the Peabody Award–winning The Judge, was cinematographer on the Sundance-premiering Life After, and was producer and cinematographer on HBO’s The Devil Is Busy. Her work has screened at major festivals including Sundance, TIFF, IDFA, Hot Docs, and Full Frame, where she received the Center for Documentary Studies Award.
Amber’s latest film, Coexistence My Ass!, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, where it won a Special Jury Award. Described by Variety as “urgent, eye-opening and enormously compassionate,” the film follows activist-comedian Noam Shuster Eliassi as she creates a comedy show of the same name while navigating the region’s escalating political crisis. Filmed over five tumultuous years, the documentary traces Noam’s personal, professional, and political evolution — from her upbringing in the only intentionally mixed Jewish-Palestinian village to her disillusionment with traditional peace activism and her pivot to sharp, unapologetic satire. As Noam’s comedy confronts audiences with truths that are uncomfortable, necessary, and often not funny at all, the film captures a society in freefall and a performer determined to meet the moment. With humor, emotional depth, and political clarity, Coexistence My Ass! challenges the veneer of coexistence and insists that justice and equality are the only path to a different future.
AWARDS
World Cinema Documentary Special Jury Award for Freedom of Expression, Sundance 2025
Golden Alexander Award for Best Documentary, Thessaloniki International Film Festival
Human Rights in Motion Award, Thessaloniki International Film Festival
CDS Filmmaker Award, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival
Grand Prix Bank Millennium Award, Millennium Docs Against Gravity
Cannes Lion Grand Prix - Entertainment
Cannes Lion Gold - Entertainment: Non-Fiction Film: 5-30 Minutes
Cannes Lion Gold - Entertainment Lions in Sport: Film Series and Audio
Cannes Lion Bronze Entertainment Lions in Sport: Brand Storytelling
Sundance Brand Storytelling - Best Director
One Screen Short Film Festival - Best in Genre
AICP Award - Branded Content & Entertainment: Standalone
AICP Award - Post: Docu-Style
D&AD Awards - Non-Scripted Long Form
Peabody Award for “The Judge”
Sportel Awards, Monaco - Peace and Sport Documentary Prize
Irish Film Institute Doc Fest - Audience Award for Best Feature
Adelaide Film Festival - Jury Award for Best Documentary
Vail Film Festival - Best Documentary
CMCA PriMed - Youth Jury Award (Prix Averroès Junior),
FELLOWSHIPS/LABS
Pillars Fund Artist Fellowship (2024/2025)
IDFA Rough Cut Presentation - (winner) (2023)
Hot Docs Deal Maker (2021)
Sundance/Women in Film Finance and Strategy Intensive (2020)
IFP Project Forum (2019 + 2021)
Sundance Momentum Fellow (2018/2019)
Sundance Catalyst (2014)
Sundance Story and Edit Lab (2014)
GoodPitch London (2013)
TedxWomenBarcelona (2013)
Sundance Fellowship (2012)
Sheffield Meet Market (2012)