Forgotten Silver

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. (official distributor synopsis)