In die Sonne schauen

The 14th May 2025 was one of the most decisive days in Fabian Gamper’s life – the day his wife Mascha Schilinski’s film, "In die Sonne schauen" ("Sound of Falling", 2025), for which he worked as cinematographer, celebrated its world premiere in Cannes. "It was incredibly exciting because the cast and crew were seeing the film for the first time – and in such an historic setting in front of an international audience," he recalls. It was also interesting to find out whether the look of "In die Sonne schauen" would be well-received.

The film tells a highly associative story about four girls who live on the same farm at different times, and so it has its own unique aesthetic. A rough graininess was created on the computer, as the film was shot digitally for budget-related reasons. In addition, there were many analogue effects using different lenses – including modulation in the sharpness of the images. Praise from the world press was almost unanimous. Deadline, for example, lauded the cinematography: "Fabian Gamper’s restless camera has a ghostly quality. Constantly observing but without truly revealing anything."

The working conditions for "In die Sonne schauen" were challenging for the Swiss-born director of photography: "Shooting a two-and-a-half-hour historical film in 33 days without compromising on visuals was only possible thanks to an unbelievably dedicated team." Not least because of his personal relationship with the director, he was aware of the project from its earliest developmental stages. "From the start, it was conceived visually and on the audio level. This was due to the dramaturgy, which does not follow a classic plot structure, being very closely interwoven with the visual level. The aim was to create something that comes across as hazy memory." The conception was based on classic teamwork: "We did a lot of testing, experimenting with lenses and effects, trying to figure out how the camera could become an invisible protagonist, floating through time. This process continued into the shoot, where we did some filming with a pinhole camera, for example, in order to capture the diffuse sense of a fading memory."

Fabian Gamper’s path to Cannes began many years ago with no more than a sketchpad. At the age of twelve, he was considering becoming a comic artist; he soon realised, however, that he "didn’t want to sit alone at a table with a pen, paper or computer." He also enjoyed "actual physi­cal work and communicating with other people." At the same time, he knew that he didn’t want to invent the stories himself, but would ra­ther work with someone who wrote them. "I enjoy the broad spectrum that camerawork offers, from the intellectual engagement with content and concepts to the physical, intuitive work of synchronising the camera with the actors’ move­ments, for example."

While studying at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Ludwigsburg, he met Mascha Schilinski, with whom he discovered an affinity in aesthetics: "Mascha is a director very much focused on the visual and on atmosphere, who doesn’t follow a textbook methodology in regard to design and dramaturgy. She has her own vision when it comes to images and how they should feel. From the very beginning, I was excited about working with her and finding out how we could realise those images." And so, the two made their first short films, culminating in Schilinski’s feature film debut "Die Tochter" ("The Daughter"), which premiered at the Berlinale in 2017: "That allowed us to develop a shared cinematic vocabulary." Fabian Gamper does not work exclusively with his wife, however.

For example, he shot "Der Junge, dem die Welt gehört" ("The Boy Who Owns the World", 2023) and "Ein Film über den Tod" ("A Film About Death") for director Robert Gwisdek, discovering aesthetic preferences in Gwisdek’s work that he could also identify with. Like his directors, Gamper has no ambition to work according to the classical school alone: "Of course, there are conventions that you follow. But if the film allows, it’s interesting to do more than just apply rules or a repertoire of image design. Instead, I want to tease out the cosmos of a specific film. What are its inner demands, how can it stand alone?"

Thanks to the success of "In die Sonne schauen", which has been submitted as Germany’s entry for the Foreign Language Oscar, Fabian Gamper has now caught the worldwide attention of the industry. Can he imagine working within the machinery of a major international production? "If the script and the director’s vision appeal to me, definitely." But he is particularly looking forward to his wife’s next film: "I’m already discussing new ideas with Mascha at the kitchen table."

Author: Rüdiger Sturm