FORGOTTEN SILVER is Peter Jackson's loving "tribute" to fictional New Zealand film pioneer Colin MacKenzie. MacKenzie purportedly invented such techniques as the tracking shot and synchronized sound in the early 1900s, well before anyone else had discovered them. After being overlooked by film historians for decades, the restored version of MacKenzie's lost biblical masterpiece SALOME is now available to audiences for the first time ever. FORGOTTEN SILVER is a well-researched and clever satire that presents moviegoers with a hilarious alternate history of early film. Also included on the U.S. video release is Robert Sarkies' short film SIGNING OFF.

New Zealanders Peter Jackson and Costa Botes conspired to create this witty mockumentary about Colin MacKenzie, a fictional film pioneer who, in the early 1900s, invented the tracking shot, the close-up, color film, and the talkie. MacKenzie's colorful career centered around the making of his three-hour epic masterpiece, SALOME, for which he single-handedly rebuilt the city of Jerusalem in the jungles of remotest New Zealand. The documentary film team sets out in search of MacKenzie's lost city and unexpectedly discovers a mysterious tomb in which he buried reels and reels of his work to prevent the mob and maybe even the Soviets (two of his backers) from gaining possession of it.

Appearing as themselves are actor Sam Neill, film critic Leonard Maltin, and Miramax co-chair Harvey Weinstein, who enthusiastically (and with remarkably straight faces) liken MacKenzie to Orson Welles and D. W. Griffith. Co-directors Jackson and Botes's hoax was so effective that, when the film was first shown on New Zealand television, many viewers thought they really were seeing a documentary on the exploits of a hitherto undiscovered cinematic genius.

Though originally made for New Zealand TV, this film was featured at numerous international film festivals, including Montreal, Helsinki, London, and the 1996 festival at Venice, where it was among that year's winners.

At the 1996 New Zealand Film and Television Awards, FORGOTTEN SILVER won in the following categories: Best Director for Drama/Comedy, Best Camera Direction, Best Soundtrack, and Best Contribution to Design.

Various techniques were used by Jackson and Botes to mimic the look of film clips from the silent era, including the use of vintage cameras, shooting with negatives that had been briefly exposed to light to make them look foggy, and further "aging" of the completed footage in the lab through mechanical wear and tear.

Co-director Costa Botes was born in Turkey and immigrated to New Zealand at an early age. He is the director of various television dramas, including several episodes of RAY BRADBURY THEATER for U.S. cable television.

DVD Features:

Region [unknown]
Keep Case
Widescreen - 1.85
Additional Release Material:
Deleted Scenes
Featurette: BEHIND THE BULL: FORGOTTEN SILVER
Audio Commentary: Costa Botes - Director

Peter Jackson: New Zealand-born director, LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy
Costa Botes: 

Sue Rogers: 

Peter Jackson: New Zealand-born director, LORD OF THE RINGS Trilogy
Costa Botes: 

Eric De Beus: 
Michael Horton: 

"...Marvelous....SILVER is a single joke, which it tells extraordinarily well. Like great gags, this 'mockumentary' is serious at all the right times..."
"...A classic mockumentary, a charming tongue-in-cheek jest that is both cleverly conceived and exceptionally well executed..."