Turf Wars, a new South African documentary series that depicts the real life situation of US marines at war in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan, will be launched at MIPTV, the international content market which gets underway in the first week of April in Cannes, France.
Producer and co-creator Markus Davies of Cape Town’s Waterfront Studios says that the 13 x one hour Turf Wars will give audiences a unique perspective on war. “The series will take them closer to the action than ever before. Action is filmed through the use of mini HD cameras which are attached to the soldiers themselves.’
Turf Wars follows the lives of a company of young soldiers as they go about their day-to-day operations to suppress the enemy.
The production team has co-operation from the Pentagon to embed themselves with the soldiers for the filming period. A team of award-winning camera operators that are war zone specialists will capture unique footage and tell the Turf Wars story from a soldier’s perspective.
One of the veteran war journalists who will act as director of photography is South African Adil Bradlow, who is responsible for the genesis of the project. “The idea of this project came to me while out on patrol with the Marines in Marjah, Helmand Province, in late 2010. The lads of 1st Platoon saw themselves as fighting a good old-fashioned turf war with the Taliban.
“It was clear that the Marines had gone on the offensive and were determined not to let up, pushing out on patrol three times a day to keep the Taliban guessing as to where they would strike next. Along with a relentless pace, I was amazed at how spartan their operating conditions were. They lived hard and rough. This was soldiering as I’d never seen it before; this is a story that needs to be told,’ says Bradlow.
