17th New York Asian Film Festival

Jun 29 - Jul 15, 2018

FilmsGuestsTalks & EventsSchedule & Tickets

Photo: Courtesy of Infinite Frameworks Pte Ltd

U.S. Premiere

Buffalo Boys

In 1860, two gun-slinging brothers return from California's wild west to their native Java to seek justice for their father's murder. They are soon pitted against an evil Dutch colonizer and his motley crew of corrupt minions in a desperate blood-soaked battle. This “eastern western” amps up the genre’s glorious tropes—men taming nature, street gun duels, fistfights in bars—with a distinctly Indonesian flavor. Producer-turned-director Mike Wiluan (Macabre, Headshot) delivers a rollicking ride with this new take on old-school adventure.

Director: Mike Wiluan
Screenwriter: Rayya Makarim
Cast: Pevita Pearce, Yoshi Sudarso, Ario Bayu
Languages: Various with English subtitles
2018; 112 min.; DCP

SCHEDULE:

Sunday July 15, 5:45pm
SVA Theatre

Q&A with director Mike Wiluan, and co-writer and co-producer Rayya Makarim

Mike Wiluan

Mike Wiluan had an early start watching movies, orgying on the VHS tapes that his father supplied to oil rig workers in the Java Sea. After graduating from the University of Kent’s film school in the UK, he acquired post-production house Infinite Frameworks in 2004 and transformed it into a major studio with production facilities in Indonesia's Batam and Singapore. After producing Singapore's first animated feature, Sing to the Dawn (2008), Wiluan produced the Mo Brothers' horror Macabre (2009) and action film Headshot (2016), key films in transforming Indonesia into a quality genre powerhouse. Buffalo Boys is his directorial debut.

Rayya Makarim

US-born Rayya Makarim has co-written, co-directed and co-produced several key films in Indonesian film history, from Nan Achnas' Whispering Sands in 2001 to Mike Wiluan's eastern western Buffalo Boys in 2018. In 2008, she co-directed Jermal (a.k.a. Fishing Platform) together with Ravi Bharwani. First developed at a screenwriting workshop in 2003, Jermal received production finance from the Locarno International Film Festival and Rotterdam's Hubert Bals Fund. She has also written for Indonesian directors Rudy Soedjarwo (Rumah ketujuh) and Teddy Soeriaatmadja (Banyu biru). Her upcoming films include Bharwani's 27 Steps of May.