After School Course for Digital Media Literacy
Danny Hastings
Danny Hastings is a Latinx photography and cinematography champion. From his humble beginnings in New York City documenting Hip-Hop’s culture & industry with a 35mm in hand; to forging his own path into the fast-paced business of music videos & big screen cinema; to elevating his vision through a diverse arc of original productions, Hastings has earned his position as a high-ranking statesman of his craft. Hastings has worked alongside some of the biggest powerhouses in the music industry. Having shot & designed an unprecedented number of album covers, and directed music videos for some of the biggest names in the music industry - including Jay-Z, Marc Anthony, Wu-Tang, Nas and Prince Royce – Hastings captured the image & energy of the sound, and his vision continues to touch down in millions of households. As a result, Hastings’ photography has exhibited in important arts destinations across the United States - such the Museum of Modern Art, The Annenberg Space for Photography, The Kennedy Center, and Art Basel - and dozens of prestigious galleries & museums across the globe, stretching from Japan to the United Arab Emirates. Recognizing the rise of brand content marketing as an artistic medium, Hastings conquered this creative territory with visual projects for MTV, NASCAR, Samsung, Sprint, and numerous Fortune 500 companies. In 2015, Hastings broke new ground as Founder of the Official Latino Film Festival. His impetus behind this festival was to provide opportunities to Latinx filmmakers and actors in the U.S. (in response to the lack of respect & representation of his community in the film & television industries). After securing a partnership with HBO, Diageo, and Verizon Media, the festival has continued & thrived for nearly a decade. Danny Hastings nobly charges forward, fueled by his entrepreneurial talents, and focused on the honorable representation of his American Latinx community. While still producing, writing, and directing independent feature films, Hastings dove into the deep waters of digital content & web-based film work, leading operations behind FlickeoTV.com – a digital video platform for the 21st Century American Latinx. Not one to abandon his first love, a book of his cutting edge photography is in development, containing poignant, candid (and some rarely seen) images of music’s brightest stars. Now settled in Coachella Valley, California, this tireless pioneer & devoted family man anchors his visionary work upon his long-standing commitment to delivering American Latinx culture & bilingual visual arts entertainment to the world. Hastings continues to educate the next generation of young artists with passion & knowledge s something exciting your business offers? Say it here.
Max Finneran
Max is a Southern California-based filmmaker and educator with over fifteen years of experience in the industry as a feature film director, screenwriter, and commercial video producer. He has worked as a creative producer, director and editor for J Walter Thompson Advertising and Conde Nast, among others. Max received his MFA from NYU/Tisch Graduate Film School where he wrote, directed and produced numerous award-winning short films in collaboration with talents such as Jim Parsons (The Big Bang Theory) and musician/actor Dean Wareham (Galaxie 500, Luna). In 2015, he completed his debut feature film, The Shells, starring Britt Lower and Carolyn McCormick. Education has always been at the center of his creative life. For five years, Max served as Executive Producer and Director of Programming at DIGICOM Learning, a Coachella Valley non-profit dedicated to empowering students in Title 1 school districts to activate and own their education through digital storytelling. Through his work with DIGICOM, Max has helped transform classrooms, and has mentored and developed the creative voices of first generation atpromise youth. As Director of Programming, he developed powerful after school digital storytelling enrichment programs for students and spearheaded unique workforce development opportunities for students with partner organizations such as Film Independent and Desert X Art Biennial. While at DIGICOM, Max designed and taught a robust suite of digital storytelling professional development courses for K-12 teachers through University of California, Riverside Extension. Max has also taught video production and screenwriting courses at College of the Desert and the University of California, Riverside. Max currently serves as Education Producer for the Desert X Art Biennial where he has lead Desert X’s digital storytelling program with Coachella Valley public schools since 2017. Max received his BA in Theatre Arts from Brown University, and has worked in varied capacities for such seminal experimental theater companies as The Wooster Group and SOON 3, as well as with arts institutions including Palm Springs Art ing interesting about your business here.