Ins wilde Land

Directed by Emil Kaschka, 2024

Ins wilde Land follows a young couple travelling from Vienna to Tyrol to visit a terminally ill friend for what may be the last time. The harsh alpine landscape serves as a quiet emotional backdrop to the journey.

The visual identity grew out of the scouting process. Photographs taken by set designer Laura Huber on 35mm Fuji stock became the foundation for both the 3:2 aspect ratio and the color palette, a format more commonly associated with still photography that naturally centers the performances.

For the interiors, I worked with heavy diffusion to keep direct sunlight out entirely, giving the inside spaces a flat, subdued quality that reinforced the emotional tone of the story. To maintain physical closeness to the actors while giving them room to move, I built and operated a custom remote jib rig, a setup more common on larger productions that we adapted for a student film context. It was also my first time rigging and shooting a car scene.

This project marked a technical step forward, and several approaches I began developing here carried into later work.

Prizes & Awards

• Filmreif – Special Prize of the Jury (Bundesfestival Junger Film, June 2024, Germany)

Festivals & Nominations

• Kurzfilmfestival Landshut, März 2024 (Germany)
• Diagonale – Festival des österreichischen Films, April 2024 (Austria)
• Kurzfilmfestival Schrobenhausen, Mai 2024 (Germany)
• Bundesfestival Junger Film, Juni 2024 (Germany)
• Shortynale Klosterneuburg, August 2024 (Austria)