ABOUT The film

  • Noga Erez is on the verge of global stardom. Her fearless lyrics and electrifying sound have captivated audiences from Tel Aviv to the world’s biggest stages. For ten years, together with her life partner and creative collaborator Ori Rousso, she has crafted songs that embody the contradictions of life: political, personal, love, despair, aggression and vulnerability.

    As they are on the verge of releasing their first major studio album, cracks begin to appear in their relationship as political turmoil takes center stage in Israel.  Noga’s world threatens to unravel as she is forced to confront harsh new realities and redefine her role, both as an artist and as a person.

  • 2021 was the breakout year for Noga Erez. From being a controversial indie artist in Israel, she went viral online and began touring internationally. Her track “End of the Road” racked up millions of streams, while “Views” led to a guest appearance on Jimmy Kimmel and public praise from artists including Billie Eilish and Pink. Publications from The Guardian to Rolling Stone hailed her singular sound and “confrontational” lyrics. 

    Erez and her partner and musical collaborator, Ori Rousso signed with a major US label and are placed on an eighteen-month plan that will culminate in the release of their next album in America. However, the couple decide to go on a break and keep that a secret from the rest of the world. They continue making music, channeling their questions about relationships, family, ambition, and permanence into their art. 

    On top of this, life as an Israeli public figure comes with scrutiny from every direction. Past comments are taken out of context. At home, her criticism of the government makes her a target, even leading to death threats. Abroad, she is booed, cancelled from events, or reduced to her nationality rather than seen as an artist. Noga finds herself trapped in a lose-lose dynamic that is as emotionally exhausting as it is politically charged. It is a precarious balancing act, and suddenly everything seems on the verge of collapse.

Woman with dark hair and bangs wearing a white suit, sitting on the floor against a plain white background.

  • Noga Erez vs. Noga Erez

    Noga Erez and her performances are full of flair: idiosyncratic oversized suits, bucket hats, and striking visual worlds. In the film, Noga and Ori’s hyper-stylized musical personas clash with the unfiltered realities of their lives: two co-conspirators in art and love, in their early thirties, standing on the brink of something. They have everything to win and everything to lose.

    A Documentary Album

    The film unfolds like a documentary album in nine chapters, each named after a track whose lyrics illuminate a particular threshold in her life. Together, these chapters trace a portrait not of linear success, but of a restless, ongoing exchange between experience and expression: life seeping into the songs, and the songs, in turn, reshaping the life that produced them. In other words the film explores how a person becomes an artist, how an artist turns herself into language and sound, and how that language and sound begin to shape the person in return. Each track or chapter explores a phase, a rupture, a new wound or a new beginning. In this structure, music is never used simply to illustrate biography; it is the biography, or at least its most charged and revealing form of expression. A lyric written in one moment returns years later as prophecy. What emerges is a cyclical, intimate coming-of-age.

    Politics and Music

    Is Noga Erez a political artist? Over the course of her career, she is asked this question again and again. Noga herself does not always know how to answer. Yes, there is political charge in her songs, sometimes explicitly so, but her intention is to allow her voice to be heard through her music not to become a spokesperson or a slogan. What she wrestles with is the definition of the word political itself: what it means to make music in a world where everything is political, where identity is instantly translated into allegiance, and where complexity is constantly reduced to soundbites. Her early work, particularly Off the Radar, was received by many as sharply political, even “super lefty”: a record of surveillance, violence, power, paranoia and complicity. Songs like “Dance While You Shoot” seemed to place her firmly in that space — an artist responding to the machinery around her with irony, rhythm and anger. But the world’s desire to pigeonhole her as a political artist is something she resists. Noga wants to work in the realm of the intimate and the universal: love, depression, sex, death, fear, ambition, desire. Yet she is repeatedly pulled back into specific political challenges by audience expectations, by history, and by the accident of birth. The film does not try to solve this contradiction. Instead, it stays inside it. It asks what happens when an artist wants to speak from the self, but the world insists on reading her as a symbol. It explores the impossible bind of making art from a place that everyone thinks they already understand — and the cost of refusing to become the thing they want you to be.

NOGA EREZ

FILM TEAM BIOS

Brothers, Benji & Jono Bergmann, are Austrian writers and directors. Their debut feature Mau, a documentary about design visionary Bruce Mau, premiered at SXSW and CPH:DOX and was released theatrically by Greenwich Entertainment in 2022. Camp Confidential, their animated NETFLIX original short documentary about a secret US military camp during WWII, was nominated for two Emmys, the Critics’ Choice Documentary awards and made it onto the shortlist for the Academy Awards in 2022. Wirecard - The Billion Euro Lie for ARD/SKY/NBCU about the Singaporean Whistleblowers that took down the German tech giant Wirecard, was nominated for the Deutsche Fernsehpreis and the Bergmanns won the Blauer Panther for Best Directing. The Bergmanns are currently in production on a film for PBS Frontline, SKY and ARD with the producers behind Oscar-winner Navalny, and in development on a narrative series based on their investigative research with SKY UK and produced by Element Pictures (Poor Things, Normal People).

Film AG Produktions is a Vienna-based production company with a strong track record in feature films, documentaries, television films and series. Originally founded in 1995 as Novotny & Novotny Filmproduktion GmbH, the company has been led by producers Johanna Scherz and Alexander Glehr since 2018. In 2019, it was rebranded as Film AG Produktions GmbH. For over two decades, Film AG has been producing award-winning films and series that resonate both nationally and internationally. While the company engages in international co-productions aimed at the global market, it also places a strong focus on German-language films and series that stand out through the distinctive, contemporary voices of their creators. Film AG's productions have premiered at prestigious festivals such as Cannes, Berlin, Toronto, San Sebastián, Tallinn, New York and London, and have found success in cinemas, on television, and across the global streaming landscape. In addition, Film AG has joined forces with six other production companies across the German-speaking territories by founding the producers network DAS DACH. While each company operates independently, they collaborate strategically in the German-speaking marketplace, pooling their expertise and networks and leveraging their collective strength to reinforce — rather than compromise — their individual independence. The company's mission is to develop compelling, original stories and to produce unique, high-quality films and series that balance entertainment with artistic depth and social relevance. Film AG is firmly committed to sustainability — culturally, through long-term creative collaboration; professionally, by nurturing strong partnerships; and ecologically, by embracing responsible production practices.

Gabriela Sperl studied History, Political Science and Languages. After her doctorate she left academia in 1982 and began working as a freelance dramatic advisor and script consultant for production companies and TV stations. She is also teaching at Munich Film School (HFF), where she has been an honorary professor since 2016. From 1998 to 2002, she headed the Drama, Fiction and Documentary Department at Bayerischer Rundfunk/ARD, overseeing numerous award-winning productions focused on socio-political themes. Since 2003, she has written and produced many acclaimed works, including Stauffenberg, Die Flucht, Operation Zucker, Tannbach I & II, NSU – Mitten in Deutschland (released internationally as German History X), Zerv, the documentary Wirecard – The Billion Euro Lie. Herrhausen – The Banker and the Bomb, released in 2024 won numerous awards as well as Die Nichte des Polizisten which came out 2025 . She is currently working on a documentary on Marsalek, the Russian Spy (with ARD, SKY and PBS frontline) and a series Der Wilde Osten ( a German Yellowstone). Gabriela Sperl believes that powerful storytelling about history, society, and politics can open eyes and hearts, and help make the world a better place.

Karol is an Austrian-born American media industry innovator with broad motion picture, publishing, broadcast, event and Internet backgrounds, and his career spans three decades including leadership in the American independent film industry. Karol is Founder/Managing Partner of Thought Engine and CEO of AB2 Media Group / ABRAMORAMA. He is a producer on Benji and Jono Bergmann’s NOGA, MAU and Gelato, Thomas Wirthensohn’s Entities and Homme Less (2014 DOCNYC Grand Jury Award), and Maura Axelrod’s Maurizio Cattelan – Be Right Back. He is an executive producer on Michele Mitchell’s OG* (*The Right Side of History, Wrong Side of the Law), Jonathan Gruber’s The Godfather of Sarin, Jessie Deeter’s Ride To Gold, Bill Muench’s The Artist and The Astronaut, Lila Schwarzenberg and Lukas Sturm’s My Father, The Prince, Adam Schomer’s series The Road To Dharma – Riders of the Himalayas, Daniel McCabe’s This Is Congo, Leslie Iwerk’s Ella Brennan: Commanding The Table, Amy Benson & Scott Squires’ Drawing The Tiger, Phil Cox’s The Love Hotel and The Bengali Detective (2013 Grierson Documentary Award), Noel Dernesch & Moritz Springer’s Journey To Jah (2013 Zurich Film Festival Audience Award), Havana Marking's Smash & Grab: The Story of the Pink Panthers, and James Smith’s Floored. He was the Production Executive on Emmett Malloy’s Big Easy Express (2013 Grammy Award and 2012 SXSW Audience Headliner Award) and Harry Belafonte’s Sing Your Song (2012 NAACP Image Award) and Executive Producer of Danfung Dennis’s Hell and Back Again (2013 Grierson Documentary Award, 2013 EMMY Best Documentary Award Nominee, 2012 Academy Award Best Documentary Nominee, and 2011 Sundance World Documentary Grand Jury and Cinematography Award Winner). Previously, Karol was the President of Film for Michael Cohl’s S2BN Entertainment, EVP of Film & Animation for Babel Networks, and Head of Film at Chris Blackwell's Palm Pictures. Karol has produced over 25 television and satellite broadcast music programs, multiple Webby Award-winning programs including wetheeconomy.com and focusforwardfilms.com and he co-founded FILMMAKER Magazine, RES Magazine, and several media content enterprises, including IndieWire.com. Karol has lived in over 20 cities internationally and received a B.A. from SUNY Purchase and an M.F.A. from Columbia University with a concentration in entertainment law, theater management and film production. (www.karol.com)

Berlin-based, Israeli -born, seasoned content executive Danna Stern works across borders and genres, focusing on scripted series and documentary films. Her projects have been showcased in numerous TV and documentary festivals, and broadcast on channels and streaming services worldwide. As the founder of Tel-Aviv based yes Studios, Danna created a distribution and development powerhouse delivering premium content for international platforms. In addition, she spearheaded dozens of format adaptations in multiple territories around the world, including “Your Honor” one of the most successful scripted formats of recent years, and has worked on a succession of series including the global phenomena “Fauda”; the multiple award winning “On the Spectrum”; the tantalizing documentary “Supernova: The Music Festival Massacre”; three seasons of the beloved series “Shtisel”; Netflix’s “The Devil Next Door” etc. Danna has also been instrumental in shaping Israel’s content landscape having launched and managed content strategy and day-to-day operations at Israel’s Yes TV network, running acquisitions, programming, digital services, content marketing, publicity as well overseeing the commissioning of dozens of original productions. Danna is a sought after industry lecturer, moderator and consultant, focusing on the business and financing of international production and co-production, as well as a frequent participant in professional mentorship, festivals and judging forums. She began her career as a journalist, working and reporting in numerous volatile areas for almost a Decade.

Margaret Munzer Loeb is a filmmaker and producer who founded and manages MML Productions and Lismore Road, a non-profit production company. Recent credits include NOGA (2026), MARIO (2026), SEIZED (2026), PRETTY DIRTY: THE LIFE & TIMES OF MARILYN MINTER (2025), HOLDING LIAT (2025), PLAN C (2023), FOUND (2021), DRIVING WHILE BLACK (2020) and CHASING CHILDHOOD (2020), among others. She earned a bachelor’s degree in history and visual arts from Brown University and a Master of Social Work degree from New York University. Margaret serves on the President’s Advisory Council on the Arts at Brown and previously served on the boards of Prep for Prep, PEN America, the National Institute for Reproductive Health, and the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Film Participants

Noga Erez occupies a creative universe entirely outside the boundaries of genre and expectation. The singer, songwriter, rapper, producer, and visionary shapeshifts effortlessly between pop, hip-hop, electronic, alternative, and punk, building a body of work that feels both wildly unpredictable and unmistakably hers. Since erupting onto the global stage with 2017’s breakthrough Off the Radar, she has steadily established herself as one of the most fearless and forward-thinking artists of her generation. Each subsequent release, including KIDS [2021] and THE VANDALIST [2024], has expanded her sonic universe and sharpened her reputation as an artist who moves fluidly across genres and creative disciplines, pushing far beyond conventional boundaries through an uncompromising creative vision. Equally commanding in the studio and onstage, Noga has earned admiration from artists across every corner of culture. Her collaborators and supporters include everyone from Robbie Williams and Argentine rapper Dillom to Missy Elliott, while Billie Eilish has publicly praised her work, and Florence + the Machine personally invited her to open a sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. Critics around the world have championed her as a once-in-a-generation disruptor, with outlets including NPR, Stereogum, NME, Earmilk, Atwood Magazine and Galore consistently highlighting both her musical innovation and cultural impact. 1883 Magazine christened her an “alt-pop icon in the making.” At the center of it all is her enduring creative partnership with producer and collaborator Ori Rousso, with whom she continues to push her sound into increasingly daring territory. Through magnetic and visually stunning performances, Noga Erez draws audiences into an ever-moving, ever-morphing sonic world. Her rise has unfolded on a global scale. Noga has electrified audiences at Coachella and Austin City Limits Music Festival, performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Kelly Clarkson Show, amassed more than 100 million streams worldwide, and contributed music to major film and television projects, including Netflix's Heart of Stone. Originally from Tel Aviv, her creative journey became the subject of the documentary Noga, directed by Jono and Benji Bergmann. The documentary’s highly anticipated world premiere will take place at the coveted Tribeca Festival in June 2026. Noga launches into her next chapter with the new single “I LOVE YOU” featuring Armani White, setting the stage for an ambitious new era still to come in 2026.

Ori Rousso is a producer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist whose boundaryless approach to music has become central to one of the most distinctive creative voices in contemporary alternative pop. Absorbing elements of electronic, rock, hip-hop, experimental, and cinematic music with sonic precision, he blends genres into an inimitable and irresistible hybrid entirely his own. Rousso has quietly emerged as one of the defining creative forces behind a new generation of genre-defying music. Rousso serves as the primary producer and sonic architect behind Noga Erez’s acclaimed albums Off the Radar, KIDS, and THE VANDALIST, while also contributing vocals to fan-favorite tracks including “NO news on TV” and “VIEWS.” Together, the longtime collaborators have built one of contemporary alternative music’s most adventurous creative partnerships, earning acclaim for their explosive live performances and uncompromising artistic vision. Originally from Tel Aviv, Rousso immersed himself in music from an early age, developing a deep fascination with production and sound design after first discovering recording software as a teenager. Over the following decade, he refined his craft, producing for a wide range of artists before beginning his now long-running creative partnership with Erez. Initially introducing her to the fundamentals of Ableton, the two quickly evolved into one of modern music’s most adventurous collaborative teams. Beyond the studio, Rousso has performed alongside Erez on major international stages, including Coachella, Austin City Limits Music Festival, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, The Kelly Clarkson Show and a sold-out performance at Madison Square Garden, opening for Florence + the Machine. Their work has also extended into film and television projects, including Netflix’s Heart of Stone. He also appears alongside Erez in the documentary Noga, directed by Jono and Benji Bergmann, which makes its highly anticipated world premiere at the Tribeca Festival in 2026. In 2026, Rousso and Erez launch their next creative chapter with the single “I LOVE YOU” featuring Armani White, continuing to push their sound into bold and unpredictable new territory.