We met Valentin Schmeißer this year in Berlin to be exact. It was during this trip made by a seemingly random group of friends from Vienna, Bristol, Rotterdam, Leiden & Hamburg. It was quite a big group, seemingly thrown together for the occasion. They were at the skatepark loudly pumping music, hanging about, and drinking beer (usual Berlin man trip behavior). All very friendly stuff but then you had Valentin, who seemed relaxed, quiet and but also a bit shy. He was ripping, with his own bag of tricks and at certain spots, the whole gang got behind him to cheer him on.
At the end of the trip, we briefly spoke and he told us that he was working on something and if we would be willing to have a look once he had a preview ready. We obliged, not truly knowing what to expect, we exchanged follows on Instagram and 2 months later we got a DM and then shortly after an E-mail with a link.
Venus as a Boy was the title that struck us. Simply because it felt like something close to the person we had gotten to know: “It is the title of one of my favorite songs by Björk.” Valentin told me. Once we pressed play, we started to see 8-millimeter footage that was romantic and it cut quite close to the person doing the directing. In a way, with this and most good videos, you catch a bit of the personality of the filmer/editor as one episode progresses into the next.
The final version also introduced us to the graphic work of Lukas Rosen which added another dimension and lead to the actual title of this episode EXIT.
It might be just us, but it feels like in 2020 Hamburg is having a moment. and Valentin agreed: “In the 4-years that I have been living here, things have changed a lot. It feels like the scene is more together now. A new generation has stood up with the Homeless crew with Moritz Ueberall behind the lens.” That is one of the grounds why this is not so much a “crew” video but more a project based around people that wanted to film. “I feel like the filmer has become more of a central point, look at people like Johnny Wilson or Jake Harris you are waiting for their work and the skaters that gathered around them. It feels like people come in and out of those groups but it is because it is their work that you click play.”
“For the next one you might see me travel a bit more to places like Berlin & Vienna to capture the people that attract me there.” So let’s hope that the world gets back to normal and Valentin gets to make the video he wants to make. We are very excited to see where this journey leads him, and are of course very proud to introduce Episode 1 of Venus as a Boy to you.
Watch PEX as well to see some of Valentin’s past work.