http://www.indiemoviesonline.com/unmade-beds/

Alexis Dos Santos’ vivid, seductive second feature UNMADE BEDS is a lyrical tale of two solitary expats crossing paths in the cosmopolitan art-rock milieu of a sprawling East London squat. Axl (Fernando Tielve) arrives in the UK to look for his long lost father and instead is adopted by the bohemian Mike and Hannah who introduce him to gigs in English pubs and free spirit living. Vera (Deborah Francois) is a Belgian heartbreaker who strikes up a charming romance with X Ray Man until a failed meeting sets her on a quest to recapture traces of time they spent together by taking polaroids. An idiosyncratic and atmospheric anti-romance, Unmade Beds has screened competitively in 2009 at the Sundance and Berlin Film Festivals and at the Edinburgh International Film Festival. Featuring music from Plaster of Paris, (We Are) Performance and Tindersticks as well as many more, Unmade Beds is this year’s coolest paean to good music, bad hangovers and lost love.CAST

Deborah Francois, Fernando Tielve

DIRECTOR

Alexis Dos Santos - Alexis Dos Santos grew up in Patagonia. He studied architecture and acting in Buenos Aires before moving to London to train as a director at the National Film and Television School. He returned to Patagonia to make his debut feature. Glue premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam, winning the MovieZone Award-the first of 15 international awards. Unmade Beds, his second film, was written under the auspices of a Cinefondation writing residency in Paris.

SODA PICURES

Started in 2002, Soda Pictures has established an impressive catalogue of world cinema and independent films working with upcoming directors as well as established talent across an eclectic mixture of feature film titles. Theatrical successes over the last few years include Head-On by Fatih Akin; the Oscar nominated After the Wedding by Danish director Susanne Bier and Heading South by renowned French director Laurent Cantet starring Charlotte Rampling. As well as concentrating on world cinema titles Soda Pictures represents an array of films on DVD from vintage and classic titles to emerging talent such as Kelly Reichardt’s cult film Old Joy starring Will Oldham.

ALEXIS DOS SANTOS INTERVIEW

Tell us about your movie: who did you work with, what did you shoot on, why did you make it? Give us the reductive, 25-word or less, “It’s like [pop culture reference a] meets [pop culture reference b]!” pitch, then explain what the quick and dirty sell leaves out.

Unmade Beds is a film that portraits an age, a time and a place: young people in London today. I made this film in London with an international cast: Fernando Tielve, Deborah Francois, Michiel Huisman, Iddo Goldberg and Richard Lintern. It’s a script I’ve been working on for a long time.

If this film was an object, it would be two boxes found in an empty warehouse, containing pictures, polaroids, cds, personal diaries, tickets for concerts, comics books, drawings and a bunch of empty bottles. One box would belong to a boy called Axl, the other one to a girl called Vera. Going through their things you can kind of guess what their lives are like, what they think, what they fear and what they long for. You can see their lives and how their stories slowly intertwine.

Ok, this isn’t quite the “quick and dirty sell pitch” that i was asked to do, so let’s try again. My influences usually come from music, art literature and photography, more than films. So:

“It’s like Nan Goldin photographs put together to a soundtrack of Daniel Johnston’s tapes.”

Or…

“It’s like In the Mood for Love meets My Own Private Idaho. But in London today, no Chinese dresses, no rent boys, no Shakespeare. With lots of concerts, booze, dance, sex and with a moving but happy ending punctuated with a very eclectic soundtrack.”

Sorry, I found this question particularly difficult to answer.

If you funded your film through a “day job” or through working on projects that were not your own, tell us about that. If not, tell us a story from your past work life, before you became a professional filmmaker.

I never worked a day in my life.

OK, I made a few commercials and a couple of music videos, but I didn’t feel like I was working then. I wish I could say that I used to be a male stripper or a porn director whilst I was trying to raise money for this film, but unfortunately that was not the case. I did get paid during the development process, which helped a lot. And I stayed at the Cannes Cinefondation Residence in Paris for a few months, and that also helped. Before that I was very busy making my first film GLUE, but that’s another story.

Have you been to Sundance before? If you haven’t, what are you most (or least) looking forward to based on your impressions of the festival?

I look forward to the snow. I started skiing when I was 7 and I even got a couple of medals for some slalom competitions when I was a teenager. That was the only sport I was ever good at.

Plus, I look forward to hearing what people think of my film. I like it a lot. I hope people will like it as much as I do.

Let’s get hypothetical: You’re on death row. The night of your execution, you’re allowed to watch any two films of your choice. What would you pick for your last-night-on-Earth double feature?

Monty Python’s The Meaning of Life and Wes Anderson’s The Royal Tenenbaums. Or maybe just a couple of porn films and a long playlist with all my favorite music…

UNMADE BEDS MOVIE SOUNDTRACK

“FUCK ME”
Written and Performed by Mary and the Boy
Courtesy of Mary Tsoni and Alexander Voulgaris

“BEAT A NEW HEART BEAT”
Written by Molly Carroll and Lewis Jones
Performed by Plaster of Paris
Recorded live on location

“SURRENDER”
Written by Cross, Marsden, Marsden, Stretch
Performed by (We Are) Performance
Published by Big Life Music
Courtesy of Too Much Information Records

“HELLO VIEW”
Written by Connan Tent Hosford
Performed by Connan Mockasin

“UNDERGROUND”
Written and Performed by Kimya Dawson
Courtesy of Candid Music Publishing Ltd and K Records

“CHERRY BLOSSOMS”
Written by Stuart Staples, Dickon Hinchliffe and David Boulter
Performed by Tindersticks
Used by Permission of Rough Trade
Courtesy of Island UK under license from Universal Music Operation Limited

“SHORT SHARP SHOCK”
Written by Cross, Marsden, Marsden, Stretch
Performed by (We Are) Performance
Published by Big Life Music
Recorded live on location

“WE ARE NOT THE SAME”
Written by V. Jones, D. Leach, R. Jones, R. Cox
Performed by Good Shoes
© Published by Kobalt Music Publishing Limited
Licensed courtesy of Brille Records Ltd

“SWINGET”
Written by Tolga During
Performed by Tolga Quartet

“SARÁ PERCHÉ TI AMO”
Written by Farina / Ghinazzi / Pace
Performed by I Ricchi e Poveri
Published by Universal Music Publishing Ltd.
(P)1981 SONY BMG Music Entertainment (Germany) GmbH
Licensed courtesy of SONY BMG Music Entertainment (UK) Limited

“DON’T BE UPSET”
Written and Performed by Jeffrey Lewis
Lighting Lewis ASCAP
Licensed Courtesy of Rough Trade Records Limited

“HOT MONKEY, HOT ASS!”
Written by Mike Skinner and Spencer Product
Performed by Black Moustache
Used by Permission of Lakeshore Records LLC

“AMOR A CONTAGOTAS”
Written and Performed by Natasha Braier
Guitar and Percussion by Cecilia Gimenez

“SNEAKY SNEAKY DOG FRIEND”
Written by Connan Tent Hosford
Performed by Connan Mockasin

“NEW SKIN”
Written and Performed by New Skin
Courtesy of Dimension Gate Music and Cleopatra Records

“BOBBY PERU”
Written and Performed by Mary and The Boy
Courtesy of Mary Tsoni and Alexander Voulgaris

“MY LIFE IS STARTING OVER AGAIN”
Written and Performed by Daniel Johnston
Used by Permission of IQ Music Limited and
Courtesy of Eternal Yip Eye Music

“HELLO”
Written and Performed by Michiel Huisman
Recorded live on location

“I’M FINE”
Written and Performed by Kimya Dawson
Courtesy of Candid Music Publishing Ltd and Kimya Dawson