Noga Ashkenazi

Noga Ashkenazi is an Israeli writer/director, who studied filmmaking at the Sorbonne University in Paris, France, and holds a degree in Theater and Dance from Grinnell College. When she's not working on a film in the United States, Noga works as a playwright and dramaturg at the National Theatre of Israel, in her hometown of Tel Aviv. Her first feature-length film as director/producer was the documentary THE GREY AREA: FEMINISM BEHIND BARS, which depicts the lives of inmates at a maximum-security women's prison in Iowa, and explores women's issues in the criminal justice system. THE GREY AREA premiered at the ArcLight Cinemas Documentary Film Festival in Los Angeles and won the Best Documentary Award at the JDIFF. The film was picked up for distribution by Women Make Movies and was released in 2013. For her narrative feature debut, Noga co-wrote and directed SAINTS REST, a musical drama starring Hani Furstenberg (THE LONELIEST PLANET), Allie Trimm (Original Broadway Cast of 13), and Dana Ivgy (ZERO MOTIVATION). Set in small-town Iowa, SAINTS REST features an original song-score performed live on set, and tells the story of two estranged sisters who, over the course of one summer, form a connection through their shared love of music as they grieve the recent death of their mother. SAINTS REST premiered at the RiverRun International Film Festival in 2018, where it won the Audience Award, and went on to winning the Best Feature Film Award at the Iowa Independent Film Festival, and the Best of Iowa Award at the Interrobang Film Festival. Noga's second feature film, CRACKED WOODEN SPOON (pre-production), is written by Tyson Stock (SAINTS REST) and produced by Rebecca Green (IT FOLLOWS, I'LL SEE YOU IN MY DREAMS) and Chris Ohlson (DAMSEL, KUMIKO THE TREASURE HUNTER).