Noga Erez and Ori Rousso share intimate details in new documentary ‘Noga’

Documentary film “Noga,” which screened last week at the Jerusalem Film Festival, answers many of the questions fans may have had about Noga Erez and her partner in music and life, Ori Rousso, who perform together under Erez’s name.

The 95-minute film shares so much about Erez and Rousso — from their songwriting process and performances to the painful bumps in their 11-year relationship, including the last three years of war and national trauma — that following the screening, the duo asked the audience to help even the score.

“Now that you know all the intimate details and more about our life, we would be happy if everyone tells something about themselves,” they joked onstage after the film’s conclusion.

The film premiered in mid-June at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York and was featured again at the Munich International Film Festival.

Austrian filmmakers and brothers Jono and Benji Bergmann, who began filming the couple five years ago, show intimate, revealing conversations between Erez and Rousso about their relationship, including their decision-making process about having a child (their daughter is now a toddler).

The Bergmanns noted on Friday that this was their first film made in real time, and the focus of “Noga” shifted over the five years it was made, particularly after the bloody October 7, 2023, Hamas invasion, in which some 1,200 people in southern Israel were killed and 251 taken hostage.

The documentary shows the duo’s emerging stardom before October 7, as they were praised by Billie Eilish, collaborated with Missy Elliot, opened for Florence + the Machine at Madison Square Garden, and performed with Robbie Williams in his Tel Aviv show.

Then the film takes a sharp turn, revealing the couple at hostage protests and anti-government rallies; as they performed their first Israeli concert after October 7, when they and their Israeli fans needed the outlet of a raucous show to make them feel normal once again; and on tour, performing at global festivals and arenas where they were greeted with anti-Israel shouts and slogans.

The duo and their band have continued performing around the world during a growing period of anti-Israel hatred.

Erez explains many aspects of that journey in this film, which is entirely in Hebrew with English subtitles.

She talks about her deep desire to make it as a musician outside of Israel, a task that became vastly more complicated after October 7 and the soft cultural boycott launched against Israeli entertainers.

She discusses how she and Rousso just want to make music but are forced time and again to discuss Israeli politics “for 90 percent” of every interview and encounter.

At one moment in the film, Erez says, “I’m canceled inside Israel for being critical and outside for not being supportive enough of Palestinians.”

Meanwhile, they want to tell their story from a musical perspective, but politics inhabits a large space in their rap-style lyrics.

Throughout the writing and recording of their five albums — the Bergmanns divided the film into five chapters, each named after one — Erez and Rousso kept returning home to Israel between tours because it’s clear that their Israeli audience is what keeps them focused and balanced.

During the onstage conversation following Friday’s screening, the directors noted that the world “turned upside-down” during the five years that they made the film.

“Everything was unforeseen, but one thing remained constant,” said Jono Bergmann. “That it’s about Noga and Ori and their partnership and relationship.”

The brothers said that in many ways, Erez and Rousso’s creative and personal partnership mirrored their own, showing how partnership and love can coalesce in the creative process.

“Every scene in some way is about that,” said Jono Bergmann.

“It means a lot to show this film here,” said Benji Bergmann. “It’s a place that means a lot to us.”