Naomi Levari (; born October 10, 1978) is a German-American-Israeli film producer, development executive, and script consultant. She is the co-founder of Black Sheep Film Productions (Tel Aviv, 2010) and Electric Sheep GmbH (Berlin, 2018). Her work has premiered at the Cannes Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival, Venice International Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival, and Series Mania, accumulating over 100 international awards, including two Israeli Television Academy Awards for Best Series.
Levari was born in 1978 in the United States. From 1992 to 1996, she attended the Charles E. Smith Arts High School in Jerusalem, majoring in film. During those years, she was an active community organizer and youth group leader in Jerusalem.
In 1996, Levari refused compulsory military service in Israel as a conscientious objector.
In 2004, Levari graduated from the Sam Spiegel Film and Television School in Jerusalem with highest honors (summa cum laude). During her studies, she co-produced Oneg Shabat (dir. Michal Brezis and Oded Ben-Nun), a short film that went on to win multiple awards, and produced the documentary Blue White Collar Criminal (dir. Noam Kaplan), the first student film to be released commercially in the school's history.
Her graduation film, Draft, which she wrote and directed, screened at more than forty international film festivals, won four awards and two special mentions, and was sold to broadcasters worldwide. The film was selected as one of the best films in Sam Spiegel's history by an international jury of festival programmers, and has been included in academic curricula. Following its success, Levari was invited to lead a master class at Aarhus University in Denmark, titled Big Drama in Short Films.
During her studies, Levari received multiple scholarships and prizes, including the America-Israel Cultural Foundation scholarship, the Jerusalem Economic Corporation Prize, the Mayor's Prize, and production grants from the Television Authority and the Yehoshua Rabinowitz Foundation.
In 2017, Levari relocated to Berlin, Germany.
In 2005, Levari began her professional collaboration with producer Saar Yogev during the Jerusalem Film Festival. In 2008, the two began producing together, and in 2010 they co-founded Black Sheep Film Productions in Tel Aviv. The company built an international reputation for selective, high-quality productions with socially relevant themes, premiering work at Cannes, Berlin, Venice, Toronto, and Series Mania. In 2018, Black Sheep received a special award at the Haifa International Film Festival, recognizing it as the best production company in competition.
In 2011, Levari was selected to participate in the Rotterdam International Film Festival's Rotterdam Lab, a workshop for emerging producers. In 2013, she was invited by the French foundation CNC to represent them in the producers' track at the Cannes Film Festival, and served as a jury member for the documentary competition at the Jerusalem Film Festival. In 2014, she joined the executive board of the Israeli Academy of Film and Television and served as a reader for the Israel Film Fund and the Jerusalem International Film Lab.
In 2016, at the Cannes Film Festival, she was selected as a Notable Producer at the Holland Film Meetings, where she and director Yaron Shani presented the flagship project Love Trilogy.
In 2018, Levari co-founded Electric Sheep GmbH, a Berlin-based production company focused on international co-productions, together with Saar Yogev and Michael Reuter. The company's first co-production, Victim, in which Electric Sheep participated as minority co-producer, premiered at the Venice International Film Festival, won the Producers' Award at the Hamburg Film Festival, and was selected as Slovakia's official submission to the Academy Awards.
Alongside her producing career, Levari works as a script consultant and development executive with filmmakers across Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. From 2022, she has served as Development Supervisor and Script Consultant for Netflix Grow Creative in partnership with Tatino Films Labs, working across Istanbul, Rome, São Paulo, and Amsterdam. She has also consulted for Canal+ Poland's Series Development Lab (2020âÂÂ2021), Full Circle Lab Philippines (2020âÂÂ2023), and on individual projects for TFL and HFM. Since 2021 she has been an editorial consultant for First Cut Lab.
Levari has served as a mentor at Script Station at the Berlinale (2021âÂÂ2025), à Âódà º Film School in partnership with Netflix (2024âÂÂpresent), Pop-Up Series Lab (2025), Sam Spiegel Film School Alumni program (2015), and as Pitching Mentor at Serial Eyes (2026). In 2018 she was invited to join the mentoring team of the EWA (European Women's Audiovisual Network) program, supporting emerging women producers internationally.
Levari has lectured and taught at film schools and universities internationally. She has been a recurring lecturer at Sam Spiegel Film and Television School (2015âÂÂ2021), teaching courses including Production for Scriptwriters and running workshops on pitching. She has delivered guest lectures at Columbia University (2005), Sapir Academic College (2010, 2012), Beit Berl College (2012, 2014), and Aarhus University in Denmark (2005). She has lectured for the MIA workshops (2015), and for the FDCP on the art of pitching (2020âÂÂ2021), and in 2025 led a session titled The Art of Trust: Unlocking Creative Breakthroughs at the Script Consultant Lab in South Africa.
From 2022 to 2023 she lectured at the Berlinale Co-Production Market on the topic of The Producer's Fingerprint. She has moderated professional panels and case studies at the Berlinale Forum (2026), the Berlinale Co-Production Market (2021âÂÂ2022), and the Israel Film Directors Guild (2012).
Levari has served on juries at numerous international festivals and programs, including Berlinale Talents Script Station (2017âÂÂ2021), Munich Film Up! (2023), Utopia International Film Festival (2014, 2021), the Jerusalem International Film Festival (2013), TJFF (2024), the Tel Aviv Student International Film Festival (2020), and the Berlinale Talents Alumni Station selection committee (2025).
As an industry advisor and reader, she has worked with the Israel Film Fund across multiple tracks (2014âÂÂ2015), the Jerusalem International Film Lab (2014âÂÂ2015), the Berlinale Co-Production Market (2018âÂÂ2019), Connecting Cottbus / Coco Lab (2016âÂÂpresent), and First Cut Lab as Industry Advisor (2019âÂÂ2020).
Since 2021, Levari has been a member of the programming committee at the Jewish Film Festival Berlin Brandenburg.
Levari has been a vocal advocate for social and political causes throughout her career. In 2013, she ran for the Knesset on the Da'am Workers Party list, headed by Asma Agbarieh-Zahalka, an Israeli-Palestinian socialist party advocating workers' rights and equality, though the party did not cross the electoral threshold.
During the 2014 IsraelâÂÂGaza conflict, Levari released a video message titled A Message to Gaza, which gained wide attention on social media. Levari refused to give interviews about the matter.