Could your coming of age story be a short film?
I'm not sure if mine would be too exciting and I don't think casting Abercrombie-esque models would be an accurate representation, but I am sure producer Alexan Sarikamichian might be representing some of our readers' exploratory experience in COSMOS.
COSMOS is the story of three friends spending a weekend in the woods where true feelings start to arise. Being away from home and surrounded by nature and themselves, makes their true desires possible. In the woods, alcohol, sexual encounters, fights, jealousy and love are part of the same universe.
The movie was shot in the City of Chivilcoy, Buenos Aires, Argentina where Alexan Sarikamichian, the film's writer, director, and producer used to spend his childhood summers. Born and raised in Argentina, he began his career as a producer with more than 10 short films such as "La Donna" and "Pude ver un Puma" which was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival. He also produced feature films such as "Juana a las 12", "Paula", "Juan Meisen ha muerto" and "El Auge del Humano" which had global recognition and gave him the opportunity to attend the San Sebastian Festival.
We caught up with the man with many hats, Alexan, and asked him for a little bit of his time. Using Google Translator, we had a conversation across borders and the English / Spanish language barrier.
Here are some of the questions he answered as well as some that he had prepared for us and other English speaking press.
Tell us about COSMO as a director, and how did you come up with that mixture between Fashion Film and videoclip
COSMOS for me is special because it was filmed in a beloved place, Chivilcoy, a place where I used to spend my summers during my childhood. It is a memory I have really stuck to my grandmother's love LALA, and the video is dedicated to her.
I wanted to film something that is visually beautiful. I approached fashion filming, because I worked a lot in video art, in the colors and costumes and I chose two models as actors. I have fun making video clips and I feel i can really show my stuff in a very free way. On the other hand, if had done a short film, it would have taken me much more time and that was something I didn't have, and i also think that some natural things you can accomplish in video clips may not happen in a short films.
The format combination , gave me the opportunity to do a project in a short and fast time because I wanted to show my premiere as a director.
What were the difficulties you had when filming?
As we were mostly outdoors and in a natural area, we were relying on the weather. Two days before shooting it rained a lot and we had to cancel. That was a big problem because the roads were very wet and muddy and we had to wait till it was dry again. I started looking for replacements and postponed everything for a week. Luckily everything went back to normal and I could work with the original actors, enjoying what we were doing during a lovely day. Contact with nature and the good energy the group had helped as well.
In Cosmos there is a magnificent photography work, do you get involved much in these aspects?
I do not have much technical knowledge, to me this means directing is a trial and error test myself, I produce, and we are a very small team. I work a lot with the director of photography, in this case Sebastian Ferrari understands the colors, framing and the story I want to tell.
I tried to make the colors work, and I realized it was completely different from what I had imagined and I had to do it all over again, but at the time of the shooting, I received Sebastian's help, who has a similar view to my style, and we managed to get what I really wanted, he is a very talented person.
How was Cosmos financed?
In cosmos I requested the collaboration of the Department of Culture from Chivlicoy, Adrian Vila, is the manager at this time, I did it in a very short notice, but they were very helpful.
As i have some family in Chivilcoy I received great support from them, they gave us a place to stay and even prepared a barbecue for the whole team!
What was the trigger to tell the story of three teenagers?
I was inspired by love, and I wanted to show something young, some kind of fantasy story. When I wrote the script I already had a lot of written scenes, but I knew some would be left out when shooting. Others scenes were transformed, because I believe there is something special at the present time when you shoot a scene.
It was a little bit of an improvisation work; I could see how the actors interacted with each other and the way the story started to flow. Some things we discussed with all the actors, for example: the characters attitude and the profiles they should have.
It was a very small team: one costume designer, the photography director and two production assistants who took turns, plus the actors.
What aesthetic references inspired you?
I get inspire a lot in fashion, that's why I chose to work with models such as Alex and Nicolas Lorenzon Ferrario and Stefania Koessl who worked in "El Clan" and I think she is lovely.
I get inspired by people and filming outdoors. They had a very strong look. When I met Alex I realized that he was special, he was one of the main motivations of the video. I thought he was like an angel and his charisma was beyond physical beauty.
Choosing the costumes was also a great inspiration to work with the fashion of the video, I chose special colors to go with the characters and with each of the locations and moments the actors were going through. As there was no dialogue, everything had to be visually striking to provide the image with more value than the soundtrack.
How was it working with a straight cast on such a LGBT coming of age film? And what about the eye catching Alex Ferrario?
They are professional models and actors.I knew them by Instagram and they seemed incredible, I never thought that they might want to play a project like mine, and yet they have collaborated and they have made the video. Alex Ferrario is a success in Japan as well as China. They love him there as well as in Argentina. He was born in Paris but now lives here in Argentina
Thank you Alexan for your time and your short film! And thanks for the pics from the video as well as some from behind the scenes.
How close was this to your coming of age story?
Would your explorations make a good movie?
h/t: Alexan Films http://alexan.com.ar http://facebook.com/
Written, Directed and Produced by Alexan Kevork Sarikamichian
Starring: Stefania Koessl, Alex Ferrario , Nicolás Lorenzon
Producer: Alexan Films
DOP: Sebastian Ferrari
Art Director : Alexan Sarikamichian
Stylist & Producer Maria Flor Mendez
Editor & Color grade: Paula Baialardo
Asist Producer: Pato Mendez y Damian Zeppa
Credits: Fer Calvo
Wardrobe provided by: Estudio Socias
Soundtrack "Paris, Texas" de Original Artyfacts
originalartyfacts.bandcamp.com/
facebook.com/original.artyfacts/