For her first major international acting role, Noa Kirel didn’t just step in front of the camera. She did it in a language she barely spoke. Today, after months of filming, the Israeli pop star speaks Spanish confidently—and with a convincing accent.
Mírame Así—El Camino de Noa is the name of the new 24-episode musical drama, which was filmed entirely in Argentina and in Spanish. The series has already launched in Latin America on Amazon Prime Video and Argentina’s América TV.
Now it is coming home. Israel’s Channel 16 has acquired exclusive Israeli broadcast rights and celebrated the occasion with a red-carpet event Monday evening at Zappa Midtown in Tel Aviv.
Press and influencers rushed the red carpet for interviews with the cast, swarming around Kirel. The crowd then watched the first episode, and the evening peaked when Kirel and her Argentine co-star, actor and singer Agustín Bernasconi, took the stage together for the first time in Israel.
They performed songs from the series’ original soundtrack live, and the on-screen chemistry seen in the show carried straight to the stage. The two delivered the ballads with the ease of pop stars who had been working together for months.
The biggest project of her career
On the red carpet, Kirel said the scale of the project hit her the moment she arrived on set in Argentina.
“The set, the atmosphere, the people … It was the first time I’m doing such a big project in a different language,” she said. “I think the first moment I stepped on the set, I said, wow, that’s huge.”
She called the series the biggest and most international project of her career.
“I can’t wait, and I’m really excited for all the people here in Israel to see it and all over the world as well,” she said. “It’s a dream coming true, really.”
Asked where her famous work ethic comes from, Kirel credited her parents, who she said still work hard and wake up early every day. She also noted that doing what she loves helps keep her empowered and motivated.
“After Oct. 7, I had this big dream to be international, and it seemed really impossible,” she said. “It doesn’t matter where you’re coming from, what your language is. You can do anything if you work really, really hard and believe in yourself.”
An Argentine co-star’s view
Bernasconi, familiar to a generation of Latin American viewers from the Disney Channel series Soy Luna, conducted his interview in Spanish. He said it was his first time working with an Israeli and that it was a pleasant surprise.
“I learned a lot from her, above all from her professionalism and the way she works,” he said.
It was also his first time in Israel. Bernasconi said what he loved most was the food and spending time at the beach. He said he hopes young audiences connect with the show’s story.
“Honestly, it’s really nice to be here,” Bernasconi said. “I want them [viewers] to feel some of what we’re trying to communicate through this story. These are experiences that any young person can go through—common, everyday challenges that are intertwined with music and love. So I hope audiences connect with that.”
In the series, Kirel plays a young woman dealing with a broken heart. She joins an up-and-coming band led by Tommy (Bernasconi) and soon finds herself in a turbulent love triangle while pursuing a music career.
The soundtrack features nine original songs performed by Kirel and the cast, including the title track “Mírame Así,” as well as a cover of the Latin hit “Ni Una Sola Palabra.”
Filming in Argentina during the war
Kirel was not the only Israeli in the cast. Actress Noga Roth said being “two Israeli actresses in a cast full of Argentinians was really special.”
She expected the shoot to be grueling.
“I thought it would be super, super hard and intense,” she said. “And it was, but in a good way. The Argentinians are really easygoing, so it was really more fun than anything else.”
Filming lasted about three and a half months.
Asked whether she faced hostility as an Israeli abroad, Roth said no.
“Everyone was so kind,” she said.
Many people their age were not very involved in politics, she said, but they were eager to learn.
“It was during the war, so even more; they were really there for us all the time. Only loving, nothing else.”
Learning Spanish in the hotel lobby
One of the most striking accounts of the night came from a man who watched the production up close. Giovanni, a close friend of producer Yair Dori, traveled with the team to Argentina during filming.
“I wasn’t working with her, but we were at the same hotel, and I saw her every morning,” he said. “First of all, she didn’t speak any word of Spanish, and she learned, the same morning, the sentences that she had to say. All these songs and everything. I was amazed every day again by her ability to learn Spanish.”
“She’s something very special, out of this world, believe me. I can’t even describe the way I admire this girl,” the 83-year-old added.
Giovanni also recalled bringing Kirel to a Jewish school in Buenos Aires, where she spoke to roughly 200 children about her life. When the students asked her to sing “Unicorn,” she sang the entire song on the spot without a backing track. Afterward, he said, she stayed to take pictures and talk with everyone.
Argentine Israelis
For some in the audience, the night was about more than a television show.
Daphna Daya, who moved to Israel from Argentina decades ago, said watching the Argentine stars in Tel Aviv felt “a little bit like home.”
“We were waiting for it a long time,” she said. “This is the start. Only the start of all the projects and things that both countries can do together.”
She thanked the Argentine Embassy for its involvement in the evening and said her young daughter is already waiting for the show to come to Israeli screens.
A 20-year-old fan said she had loved Bernasconi since watching Soy Luna as a little girl. She called the new series “amazing” and said Kirel was, too.
She added that she taught herself Spanish by watching telenovelas—a fitting detail on a night celebrating an Israeli star who learned hers on set.
The Israeli premiere date has not yet been announced. Noa’s Way will air exclusively on Israel’s Channel 16, which is available on yes, STING TV, Partner TV, FreeTV and Cellcom TV, as well as through the channel’s streaming app for Android and iOS.
