Young Perspectives on Old Conflicts.
A picture editor, a satellite investigator, an XR producer and two photographers: on 10 November in Berlin, they’ll discuss what kind of storytelling it takes for conflict reporting to be heard.
Photo: NowHere Media
Felix Gaedtke, co-founder of NowHere Media: His immersive documentary ‘You Destroy. We Create.’ follows artists in Kharkiv as they protect their city’s cultural heritage in wartime.
Satellite image: Planet Labs, analysis: Vertical52
Marcus Pfeil, founder of Vertical52: His platform analyses satellite imagery for newsrooms. Pictured: a data centre in Sasovo, Russia, after a drone strike.
Source: ICTY
Lasse Branding, graduate of our programme: In ‘The Atlas of Evidence’, he examines photographs used as evidence at the Yugoslavia tribunal. Pictured: destroyed houses, photographed by a witness.
To close its annual programme ‘inspektionen // NeuLand’, the Representation of Lower Saxony in Berlin is inviting journalists and photographers who report on conflicts old and new – through new channels, with unfamiliar images and new techniques. The evening, ‘Junge Blicke auf alte Konflikte’ (Young Perspectives on Old Conflicts), takes place on Tuesday, 10 November 2026, and is co-organised with our Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography programme.
Anyone reporting on war, displacement and memory, or on polarisation and extremism, is increasingly met with cynicism and mistrust. The panellists answer that scepticism with their work. Together, we will ask what kind of storytelling it takes to be heard at a time when trust in the media is in short supply.
The panel brings together experience from newsrooms, satellite investigation and documentary film, gathered in many parts of the world. Tina Ahrens heads the picture desk at DIE ZEIT and ZEIT ONLINE. She was previously senior photo editor at GEO’s New York bureau, has advised CNN Digital and was an affiliate fellow of the Nieman Foundation at Harvard. In 2025 she sat on the World Press Photo Contest jury.
Felix Gaedtke co-founded the studio NowHere Media with Gayatri Parameswaran. Their immersive documentaries have taken them to Syria, Iraq, Ukraine and the Himalayas. Their work has been shown at the Venice Film Festival and Tribeca, won a Peabody Award and earned an Emmy nomination. Gaedtke teaches Immersive Journalism on our programme.
Marcus Pfeil co-founded Vertical52 in Berlin in 2023. Newsrooms such as ARD, ZDF and Der Spiegel use the platform to analyse satellite imagery – to show the scale of destruction in Gaza, for instance, or the damage caused by drone strikes in Russia. An investigation into the cotton harvest in western China, carried out with the broadcaster NDR, won the Deutscher Reporterpreis in 2022.
Two graduates of our programme complete the line-up. Rafael Heygster studied cultural anthropology, political science and photojournalism in Hamburg, Hannover and Aarhus. In ‘Democracy Dies in Daylight’, he examines how the AfD and other far-right movements in Germany stage their public image – work that won him a World Press Photo Award in 2025. Lasse Branding studied in Hannover and The Hague and focuses on the upheavals in the former Yugoslavia. In his graduation project ‘The Atlas of Evidence’, he treats photographs used as evidence at the Yugoslavia tribunal both as legal documents and as historical records.
Photo: Rafael Heygster
Rafael Heygster, graduate of our programme: His series ‘Democracy Dies in Daylight’ won a World Press Photo Award. Pictured: the AfD’s campaign launch in Halle, January 2025.
Axel Rienhoff of the Representation of Lower Saxony and Prof. Dr. Karen Fromm, who co-organised the evening on behalf of our programme, will open proceedings. The short talks and panel discussion will be followed by an informal get-together. Admission is by confirmed registration only.
Date
Junge Blicke auf alte Konflikte (Young Perspectives on Old Conflicts)
Tuesday, 10 November 2026, 6–8 pm
Representation of Lower Saxony, In den Ministergärten 10, 10117 Berlin
Register here
Welcome: Axel Rienhoff (Representation of Lower Saxony), Prof. Dr. Karen Fromm (Hochschule Hannover, Visual Journalism and Documentary Photography)
Talks and panel: Tina Ahrens (Head of Pictures, DIE ZEIT), Rafael Heygster (photographer, World Press Photo Award 2025), Marcus Pfeil (journalist, founder of Vertical52), Felix Gaedtke (journalist and XR producer), Lasse Branding (photographer)
Afterwards: Get-together
The event will be held in German.
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