Date: 16th November 2000

Press Release: FilmFour Announce Start of Principal Photgraphy on BUFFALO SOLDIERS


FilmFour's Buffalo Soldiers, an action drama set on a US military base in Germany just before the fall of the Berlin Wall, began principal photography on November 6 in southern Germany. Shooting will continue until 6th January 2001 in the Rhein-Neckar region, in and around the city of Karlsruhe.

Joaquin Phoenix (Gladiator, The Yards), Ed Harris (Apollo 13, The Truman Show), Scott Glen (The Virgin Suicides, Silence of the Lambs) and Anna Paquin (X-Men, The Piano) head the cast of this dark and exciting drama. The film is directed by Gregor Jordan.

Set in West Germany in 1989 before the fall of the Berlin Wall, Buffalo Soldiers follows the misadventures of US Army Base Battalion clerk Ray Elwood (Joaquin Phoenix). A scam and con-artist, Elwood runs a blackmarket operation behind the back of Supply and Logistics Commander, Lieutenant Colonel Wallace Berman (Ed Harris).

Elwood's illicit operation comes under threat when the military brass send in battle-hardened Commanding Sergeant, Robert Lee (Scott Glenn). Tensions heighten when Elwood learns that his new love Robyn (Anna Paquin) is Sergeant Lee's daughter. The film deals with a criminal subculture operating amonst US soldiers stationed in West Germany during the Cold War. In the tradition of MASH, Buffalo Soldiers is filled with black comic touches, strong characters and tense confrontations.

Buffalo Soldiers is directed by Australian Gregor Jordan, whose first feature Two Hands received five awards from the Australian Film Institute.

The script was co-written by Gregor Jordan, Nora Maccoby and Eric Weiss, and is based on the cult novel of the same title by Robert O'Connor.

Filmfour's Chief Executive Paul Webster said: "All of us at FilmFour are so proud of the filmmakers. We wish Gregor Jordan and his talented cast and crew all the best for the shoot."

Buffalo Soldiers is majority financed by UK production, sales and distribution company Filmfour and co-produced by Germany's Gorilla Entertainment. Producers are Rainer Grupe and Ariane Moody of Gorilla Entertainment. Executive producers are Paul Webster of Filmfour, James Schamus of Good Machine, New York and Reinhard Klooss of Odeon Pictures, Munich. UK financier Grosvenor Park and German regional funding board MFG are co-financing.

Source: Press Release


 

 

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