If childhood were a place, where would it be and what would it feel like there?

My cabinets of wonder for me now are forever this movie and the virtual spaces we created with the kids. But also the time we spent with them, their stories, their dreams. I was the director. Working with the kids, it was a bit like being a kid in your head: you get exactly the mermaid costumes, lion tongues, crazy voice boxes, diamond tree houses you want, plus lots of guinea pigs and your own jungle. As a kid, I always wanted a squirrel as a pet.

For me, a Cabinet of Wonder is a movie theater. As a child, I always wanted to be able to stop time. My part in this children’s film project is cinematographer.

I edited the film together with Susanne. It is very exciting to enter into a dialogue with the children and to hear how they experience the story. For me, a Cabinet of Wonder is a place where all the wondrous, curious treasures we carry inside us come together to form a world of their own. When I was a child, I always wanted to build my own house, with lots of strange and funny rooms and an overgrown garden.

For me, a Cabinet of Wonder is a fantastic place where anything is possible. Where I don’t know what is hidden and is waiting for my discovery. For Cabinet of Wonder I have drawn and added the wondrous things that are there in the minds of children. Sometimes moments emerge that even I don’t know about and that, for me in particular, turn the film into my very own Cabinet of Wonder.

My part in this children’s film project is to bring the children’s worlds to life in the virtual world behind the VR headsets, to program. For me as a developer, it’s very exciting that we can make these worlds not realistic, but fantastic – which in turn brings out the strengths of VR. For me, a Cabinet of Wonder is a secret place behind a small door – full of mechanical devices, boxes, flaps, cobwebs, warm light, and old rolls of paper. When I was a kid, I always wanted to be a priest with a tractor.

For me, a Cabinet of Wonder is the inside of a surprise egg. My part in this project was to find money and provide everyone with what they need. It was especially exciting for me to introduce the team to VR and find ways to work with this new medium. As a child, I always wanted to live with lots of other children.

For me, a cabinet of wonder is actually indescribable, something very personal, something of great importance, a very special feeling. As a child I always wanted everything! Now I still do, although I should know better because it’s never been good for me. It started with chocolate cake (stomach ache) and with soccer it was similar (total exhaustion and terrible headache). My part in this project is actually not having a real job and not being able to do anything right. But I have an opinion about everything and almost always think I know better. That’s just how it is as a producer.

Cornelia Friederike Müller aka CFM: For me, a cabinet of wonder is a space in which wonderful things can be seen and experienced. I composed the ‘Cabinets of Wonder’ music and together with the children found sounds and noises that can be heard in the cabinet. As a child I always wanted to be able to beam myself from place to place.

A cabinet of wonder is in my opinion everywhere and nowhere – a place where you can outgrow yourself. For this project I managed to tease out the greatest songs, lyrics and melodies from the children. Music is in all of us. As a child, I always wanted to be able to do magic.

For me, a cabinet of wonder is a place where time stands still and creativity begins to fly. My part in this project was to record the creative thoughts of the children in the form of singing and to bring them into harmony with the musical ideas of Sylvia and myself. The exciting thing was to adapt the music that was created to what was happening in the picture. It was especially nice to see how the previous tension of the children in front of the microphone turned into a beaming smile. As a child I always wanted to pursue the things that fulfill me completely. Back then it was skating and today it is music.

My cabinet of wonder is my spaceship. As a child, I always wanted to stay there. My job in this project: sound mixer.

My role as a film colourist in this project is to push all colours in the right direction. As a child I always wanted to sit on the moon and look at the earth. My cabinet of wonder is in a magical cave in the Harz region.

My cabinet of wonder is a world with mountains made of cinnamon rolls and rivers made of rhubarb spritzer. As a child I always wanted to eat pizza. In this film, it was my job to search for caterpillars with Susanne, listen to music with Joline, eat raspberry cake with Roya, to fiddle with the radio together with Elias, catch guinea pigs with Wisdom, play “Guess who” with Doro and to be silly with Giada or to go swinging with Gemma. Besides all that, I was also a production and directors assistant.

A cabinet of wonder is a place where I can completely retreat from other people, where I can be myself, without fear, bad thoughts and feelings. Here I feel unobserved and free and can do whatever I want. As a child, I always wanted to have fun and be free. That worked out quite well. I was the production director for the VR-experience of ‘Cabinets of Wonder’. It was particularly exciting for me to work with children because they have a completely different approach and view than adults.

As a child I always wanted to fly a helicopter myself. My part in this project was to build and develop the website. It was particularly important to me that the site was alive and there was always something in motion. For me, a cabinet of wonder is a place where you can design and try out a new role for yourself. A test environment where you can push your own limits and test them again.

For me, a cabinet of wonder is a place where I can let my imagination run wild. As a child, I always wanted to be a veterinarian. My part in this project is to do the marketing and manage the social media channels. I also translated all the texts into English. I found it most exciting to see and discover the children’s cabinets of wonder.

A Cabinet of Wonder is a very special place for me, full of possibilities, fantastic things and experiences, where I can try out new things and be anything. As a child I always wanted to be able to fly. And I could do it too – at least at night in my dreams. My part in this project is to advise Suse, the director, on dramaturgy, festival strategies, distribution and other matters. To accompany the film from the conception to the end was great fun, it was great to see all the cabinets of wonders being created.

For me, a Cabinet of Wonder is a place of astonishment and surprise, for me it is often nature, but sometimes it is also my place of work in make-up in the theater. As a child, I always wanted to have lots of pets. For this movie I created a wearable cat’s head for Elias and built other cat masks. I also designed a high hairstyle which Roya used as a nest for the guinea pigs. In both works, I enjoyed the freedom that was given to me during the production and the uncomplicated cooperation amongst everyone.