Directors: Asaf Avidan & Adi Halfin

Synopsis: Armed with their own camera, modern dance power-couple Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber set about documenting their intimate daily lives in a new genre of “Musical” style documentary. Mixing improvised choreography driven by their immediate emotions with the relentless, never-stopping rolling of the camera, the two created an abundance of scenes reflecting the many aspects of a relationship full of multitudes. A life full of beginnings and endings coexisting in us all. Following the video for “Earth Odyssey”, Director/Editor Adi Halfin’s vision for this video was another creative solution for a period where it is virtually impossible to create international collaborations due to the restrictions as a result of the global pandemic. After many ideas for the video were put down due to the inability to bring dancers and film crew together. She decided to go with the flow and have the dancers film themselves. Mixing their dance into a documentation of their personal life. In the end – this actually proved to be an advantage and allowed a more intimate and close-up view of the couple’s lives.

Bio: 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.

Program: Beauty, Sex & Shame – VAEFF 2020