Since the Hessen Talents 2022 were not able to attend the Berlinale on location, we offered them online masterclasses: on Monday, May 23, and Tuesday, May 24.

The public online masterclasses were held by experts of the moving image Candice Breitz, Büro für vielfältiges Erzählen, Raman Djafari and Mikkel Mainz.

On Monday morning, May 23, there were masterclasses by Raman Djafari and Candice Breitz.

Raman Djafari impressed us with three animated projects, which he called  a "triptych," explaining the connections between his colorful, surreal worlds and emotional themes and lyrics.

In Candice Breitz's masterclass we had the great honor to see a unpublished work that addresses the construction of whiteness at its core. The work will be shown from 15. Jun. - 21. Aug. at the Museum Folkwang.

In the afternoon, there were bookable one-on-one sessions with Raman Djafari (exclusive offer for Hessen Talents 2022).

On Tuesday morning, May 24, there were masterclasses by Büro für vielfältiges Erzählen and Mikkel Mainz.

The Büro für vielfältiges Erzählen (Johanna Faltinat and Letícia Milano) introduced us to their dramaturgical model for storytelling characters from underrepresented and marginalized groups, proving the urgency of creating new and diverse experiential spaces in storytelling.

In the last masterclass of animator and founder Mikkel Mainz we were impressed when he presented us some of his projects and told us more about his creative way of working, his startup and successful community network.

In the afternoon there were bookable one-on-one sessions with Büro für vielfältiges Erzählen and Mikkel Mainz (exclusive offer for Hessen Talents 2022).

Raman Djafari ist ein Illustrator, Animator und Filmemacher, dessen Praxis 2D und 3D Animation verbindet, er lebt und arbeitet in Hamburg. In den vergangenen Jahren hat Raman Musikvideos für Künstler*innen aus der ganzen Welt entwickelt und mit Labels wie Universal, Warp Records und Downtown Records zusammengearbeitet. Darüber hinaus hat er Kurzfilme für Kunden wie Adult Swim gemacht oder als Illustrator für Medium und The New Yorker gearbeitet. Neben seiner künstlerischen Praxis hält Raman regelmäßig Workshops und war zwei Jahre als Dozent für Animation an der HAW in Hamburg. Derzeit wird er als Regisseur vom Londoner Animationsstudio BlinkInk vertreten.

Candice Breitz (Johannesburg, 1972) is a Berlin-based South African artist. Most recently, her work has focused on the conditions under which empathy is produced, reflecting on a media-saturated global culture in which strong identification with fictional characters and celebrity figures runs parallel to widespread indifference to the plight of those facing real world adversity. Following the completion of her works 'Love Story' (2016) and ‘TLDR' (2017), she is currently working on the third part of a video trilogy that critically probes the attention economy. Breitz has been a tenured professor at the HBK Braunschweig since 2007.

Letícia Milano ist Journalistin und Autorin. In ihrem ersten Leben war sie eine weiße, studierte Frau aus der Mittelschicht Brasiliens. Mit ihrem Umzug nach Deutschland ist sie mit ihrer Herkunft zu einer Woman of Color geworden.
Johanna Faltinat ist Dramaturgin und Projektmanagerin. Als weiße, gesunde Westdeutsche ist sie vor allem privilegiert, kennt als Frau aber auch strukturelle Diskriminierung. Gemeinsam geben sie seit 2019 Workshops und beraten Kreative* aus der Medienbranche zum Thema Diversität mit dem Schwerpunkt auf Stoffentwicklung.

Mikkel Mainz is a Danish animation film director who is the co-founder of Sun Creature (Flee, Ivandoe) and the founder of Skjald (Tales of Alethrion). He created and directed the YouTube web series and universe "Tales of Alethrion", a crowdfunded project with 200.000+ followers that was financed through crowdfunding (500.000 USD). His work is typically 2D, dynamic and with rich worldbuilding.