Take a bunch of San Diego skaters. Add some vintage RIMOWA luggage, a super 8 camera lens and filmmaker Julian Klincewicz and what do you get? A beautiful, hazy short film capturing a bunch of skaters jumping over some lovely vintage luggage, obviously!
The collaboration came out as a spontaneous project between Julian and RIMOWA, as part of the suitcase brand’s “as seen by” series. Inspired by the skaters who famously rode their own Supreme suitcases, the film is a nostalgic, trippy celebration of youth, playfulness and the ability to do sick skills on anything with wheels.
Released just after RIMOWA celebrated their 120th anniversary, Julian’s film is just one part of the brand’s new visual identity, which sees their iconic product get an upgrade, logo redesign and new campaign featuring Adwoa Aboah and Virgil Abloh among others. We caught up with Julian about what it was like to be a part of that process, and the creation of his short film.
Hi Julian! What were some of your inspirations for the film?
I tried to just use the idea of the RIMOWA suitcase as an object, and see how we could work with them in a fun way. We felt skating could be cool to focus on; it seemed to fit really well, as one thing I’ve been thinking a lot about in general is just the idea of how the community around you shapes where you focus your energy.
I think I stopped skating as much as I used to, because so much of the community I used to go out and skate with every day with moved away to different cities, and around the same time I started traveling almost non-stop. So for a project inspired by the suitcase, it seemed like a fun way to bring people together, centred around one of my favourite things in the world — skateboarding.
Was it fun to shoot?
Super fun! We shot around San Diego, mostly spots that I would normally skate anyways and close to where I grew up, so the actual process was really easy. It reminded me of when I was in high school, skating every day, when anything and anywhere could become a new skate spot. It was fun to use the suitcase in that way, as this sort of random object that can serve as a catalyst for something greater.
Visually the film looks very nostalgic, was that a conscious choice? How was it filmed?
So, we shot everything for this on Super8 – which is what I shoot most of my work on at the moment. I wasn’t striving to make this particular video too nostalgic, but I do think a sense of nostalgia is sort of inherent to the medium of Super8, and I think that’s been part of my interest in the medium in general. It naturally reminds us of old home videos, of being younger, of relationships and fond memories, and that seeps through to whatever the content is. I think the fact that it is not always clear, or HD, allows the viewer to access the general subject matter, but also to interpret it in their own way.
Did you have any challenges? Or any injuries on set!
No major hick-ups actually! Niko’s board got stolen which was a bummer. But other than that it was just a fun day.
Check out the full film below.