Flying High, Longlist - Lockdown

Asaf Avidan, Earth Odyssey

Adi Halfin

Earth Odyssey was made by dancers from different continents filming themselves in their confinement with their personal phones and computers. It was made in the first week of April 2020 while almost 2 billion people around the globe were unable to move freely due to the restrictions imposed in an attempt to prevent the spread of the CoronaVirus. "I found so much beauty in the need of people to keep on playing music from their balconies or dance together through virtual meeting applications. To simultaneously succumb to and transcend earthly limitations by artistic endeavours," says Adi. "These are stressful times, and maybe it helps to remember that we are all a part of a mutual story. An experience of searching for meaning and control in this storm of a life. We all go through this one way or another. And in that, we are not alone. This is our Odyssey."

Adi Halfin is an award-winning director and screenwriter. She graduated the Sam Spiegel Film School with honours, and her short films have travelled the world in prestigious festivals such as Cannes and Berlinale and won numerous prizes worldwide. "HOME ALONE" which she directed for Batsheva Dance Company was a viral hit and has won ten international prizes, including Best Commercial and Best Inspirational at the LA Film Awards, and Best Short at the San Francisco Dance Film Festival. Coming from a background of art and music, Adi loves to challenge the borders of filmmaking and get involved in as many disciplines as possible – be it dance, fashion or fine arts. Music and dance are her biggest passions and she strives to showcase this passion in every part of the aesthetic details in her expressive works. Her interpretation to Radiohead's "True Love Waits" featuring world-renowned dancer-choreographer Bobbi Jene Smith, has won seven awards, including Best Unofficial Music Video at the Los Angeles Music Video Festival, 2017. Adi’s enthralling work for Toyota’s Impossible Stories offers an arresting portrayal of athlete Dergin Tokmak, and was subsequently shortlisted at Cannes and won The One Club award for Best Documentary. In addition to directing, Adi teaches production and directing in film schools, and dance film workshops in Europe, the US, China, South America and Israel. Adi currently divides her time between Tel-Aviv and Berlin, where she's working on her first feature film and directing music videos and commercials.