Buffalo Boys

Buffalo Boys (2018)

Betrayed by the Dutch colonial forces, Arana manages to escape along with his nephews Jamar and Suwo, the newborn sons of Hamza, one of the last Indonesian sultans fighting against foreign tyranny. In 1860, after wandering for years on the plains of the American Wild West, Arana and the two brothers return to Indonesia to avenge their dead loved ones and punish the evil man who caused their misfortune.

Date of release
2018-07-19
TMDB
6.5 / 10 (54)
Runtime
1h 43m
Genres
Drama, Action
Director
Mike Wiluan

Casting

Interesting facts

  • Filmed in: Indonesia
  • Awards: 0 · Nominations: 1

Buffalo Boys is a 2018 Indonesian–Singaporean action Western film directed by Mike Wiluan. The film had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal on 14 July 2018, and was released theatrically in Indonesia on 19 July. It was selected by Singapore as its entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 91st Academy Awards but did not make the nomination list.

Production

Director Mike Wiluan told Medcom.id, in an interview published the day before the film's premiere, that he had been frustrated with colonial-themed Indonesian films being political dramas, likening it to a classroom - "We sit in the cinema for an hour or two not to jump to class or study again" - and wanted to explore a more creative route.

On 3 July 2017, actor Tio Pakusadewo first revealed details of the film to Kompas and announced that he was set to appear in it alongside the likes of Ario Bayu, Pevita Pearce, Happy Salma, Donny Damara and El Manik. Principal photography was scheduled for 20 August 2017.

The total number of actors and crew involved with the film numbered between 220 to 230 people. The rehearsals and pre-production took about three months. Pevita Pearce stated that she underwent archery training for two months, and trained with stuntmen from France and Thailand during rehearsals. Pearce added that riding the kerbau (water buffalo) was a "very big challenge" for her, describing them as "wild" and harder to control than horses.

Yoshi Sudarso stated that he was the last to join the cast, having joined a month before filming began and a week after reading the script. He had difficulty with Indonesian, after having moved to the United States at age nine where he lived for 20 years and wasn't as fluent in the language. He spent a month learning Indonesian, and stated that costars Pevita Pearce, Hannah Al Rashid and others were helpful.

The film was shot on location in Yogyakarta, Java and in a studio in Batam, Riau Islands. In Yogyakarta, the production rented land in the Watu Murah area of Nanggulan, Kulon Progo. Scenes were typically shot between 3 AM and 6 PM. Filming took place across 40 days. They shot in Yogyakarta for two weeks, with the rest being shot at their studio in Batam.

Read on Wikipedia · Text from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. Data from Wikidata.

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