Before we start talking about “Space Dogs,” what was it that inspired you to want to become a cinematographer?

One big inspiration was our design teacher at school. I was about 16 when he showed us the documentary film “Step Across the Border.” It’s a black and white film that was shot in 1990 and is a portrait of the musician and artist Fred Frith. That film combined everything that interested me at the time: music, photography, and poetry. That picture really inspired me in a big way and it ended up pushing me in the direction of the film business. Camerawork wasn’t a clear path from the start, but the idea became more concrete when I realized that this discipline unites photography and film. When I turned 20, I attended the Baden-Wuerttemberg Film Academy in Ludwigsburg, where I started studying image design and camera. Initially, I had doubts about whether it was the right thing for me. Today, I have both feet firmly planted in this profession and I'm very happy about it.
 
“Space Dogs” is your fourth collaboration with Levin Peter. How did you two meet?

We studied together, with Elsa too. She was involved in three of the four films as a producer. I can still remember how on “Sonor,” our first film together, we sat around in various parks in Ludwigsburg discussing the film and the idea behind it. The three of us were always closely knit somehow. On “Space Dogs,” however, I wasn’t involved from the outset, partially for logistical reasons. Elsa and Levin had moved to Vienna and founded the production company Raumzeitfilm there. They traveled a lot and researched a lot in Moscow before they approached me. By that time, the project was already quite well developed.