Noga Erez film tracks a pop climb hit by war, threats and backlash

Israeli rapper Noga Erez is shown screaming into the Tel Aviv night in the opening stretch of the documentary Noga, a raw image that sets the tone for a film about music, fear, ambition and fallout.

Rolling Stone reported that the scene was filmed in December 2023, two months after Hamas killed more than 1,200 people on Oct. 7 and took about 251 hostages into Gaza. Erez had just performed in Jerusalem, including her 2021 song “Fire Kites,” whose lyrics include: “We don’t need bombs/We have fire kites.”

The feature documentary, directed by Austrian brothers Benji and Jono Bergmann, premiered at the Tribeca Festival in June and is now on the festival circuit, according to Rolling Stone. The film follows Erez and her partner in life and music, Ori Rousso, across three years as their career rises and their private relationship strains under pressure.

A music story caught by history

The Bergmann brothers began filming in 2021, before the Oct. 7 attacks and the war in Gaza became part of the story. Rolling Stone reported that they were first drawn to the tension inside Erez’s music and to the creative push and pull between a couple making work together.

Jono Bergmann told Rolling Stone that Erez’s songs pair dance music with darker themes, saying: “You have big dance tracks haunted by death.” Benji Bergmann said the couple’s creative process was a central draw.

Erez told Rolling Stone that she and Rousso entered the project without knowing what full access would feel like. “We regretted doing it a bunch of times in the process,” she said. She added that they gave the filmmakers control and relied on their instincts about them.

The film also catches a major complication from the start: Erez and Rousso had temporarily broken up when shooting began, Rolling Stone reported. Rousso said they are private people and had not told even close friends about their relationship status.

Career highs, then a hard turn

Before the war reshaped the film, Noga tracks a climb that includes a 2022 international tour, a Madison Square Garden performance, the album KIDS, signing with Neon Gold and Atlantic, an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and recording sessions in Los Angeles, according to Rolling Stone.

The report also notes that Erez had been co-signed by Billie Eilish, Katy Perry and Robbie Williams, with Williams appearing in the documentary. She had opened for Florence and the Machine and Pink.

Then the film cuts into Oct. 7 audio, including sirens, gunfire and cries for help, Rolling Stone reported. Later scenes show Erez and Rousso speaking with relatives, making emergency plans and receiving instructions over the phone on how to aim and shoot a handgun.

As the war in Gaza continued, the film shows Erez and Rousso facing online abuse. Rolling Stone described social media messages calling Erez a “Baby killer,” a “war criminal,” and using violent antisemitic language.

The documentary also shows an Atlantic Records executive telling the pair about a circulating list accusing Jews in Hollywood of complicity in a “genocide” of Gazans, according to Rolling Stone. In the film, Erez asks whether people may reach a point where they do not want to work with Israelis or Jewish people.

Coachella pressure and a plea to be seen

Rolling Stone reported that the pair later released the album Vandalist, filmed a video in Ukraine and toured in summer 2024. The film also shows them performing a new song for hostages and their families and speaking against the war.

As Erez and Rousso headed toward a Coachella slot, they faced pressure to issue a statement about “the occupation and genocide,” as conveyed by a festival organizer in the film, or risk cancellation, Rolling Stone reported.

“It’s not fair. It’s fucked up,” Erez says in the documentary. “Most of us just want peace.”

Speaking from Tel Aviv, Erez told Rolling Stone that her hope for Noga is straightforward: “People will see us for the humans that we are.”

This story draws on original reporting from Rolling Stone.