Forgotten Silver

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Movie
German title Forgotten Silver
Original title Forgotten Silver
Country of production New Zealand
original language English
Publishing year 1995
length 53 minutes
Age rating FSK o.A.
Rod
Director Peter Jackson ,
Costa Botes
script Peter Jackson,
Costa Botes
production Sue Rogers
music Duncan Davidson ,
David Donaldson ,
Steve Roche ,
Janet Roddick
camera Alun Bollinger ,
Gerry Vasbenter
cut Eric De Beus ,
Michael Horton
occupation

Forgotten Silver is a 1995 mockumentary by Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson .

action

Is told with the help of archive footage and scenes, the biography of the New Zealand filmmaker Colin McKenzie, who, it is reported, in May 1903 seven months before the Wright brothers detained a man on camera, the first flight and first experiences with the color film made Has. McKenzie is also said to have shot the first full-length feature film in history. Later, according to the thesis of the film, McKenzie shot a blockbuster with Salome in New Zealand before Hollywood . But communism and unemployment meant that McKenzie Salome had to give up and leave New Zealand heavily in debt. He later died as a cameraman at the front in the Spanish Civil War .

The plot of the film is underlined by interviews with Australian / New Zealand actors, including Sam Neill , Hollywood greats like Harvey Weinstein and a trip by Peter Jackson to the "original locations" of Salome .

background

Forgotten Silver is a very special film in that it is a fictional documentary - Colin McKenzie never existed. Both he and his partner Costa Botes with Thomas Robins in the lead role had filmed the “archive sequences” with which Jackson suggests authenticity, and then adapted them to the look of the early 20th century on the computer.

Even the alleged filming locations in New Zealand's jungle were created for Forgotten Silver . That's why there never was a NZ movie called Salome .

Hence the film aroused fierce controversy among historians and film experts alike. It wasn't until the movie started and the reviews didn't go silent that Jackson announced that it was a fictional movie.

Jackson recruited a few actors for the Lord of the Rings trilogy, including Thomas Robins , Peter Corrigan and Sarah McLeod . Richard Taylor was already head of Weta Workshop at this point .

Movie review

  • The lexicon of international film saw a “high-spirited play with the manipulability of cinematic 'truth'” . Unfortunately, there is no narrative flow of its own, the film is just a series of alleged great feats of film history. The screenwriters' lack of verve let the film end after 53 minutes, but by then the "thirst for knowledge about Colin McKenzie ... has already been quenched for a long time."
  • At Rotten Tomatoes , the film achieved the maximum rating of 100%.

literature

  • Ian Conrich, Roy Smith: Fool's Gold: New Zealand's Forgotten Silver, Myth and National Identity. In: Gary Don Rhodes, John Parris Springer (Eds.): Docufictions. Essays on the intersection of documentary and fictional filmmaking. McFarland, Jefferson NC 2006, pp. 230-236.
  • Jane Roscoe, Craig Hight: Mocking silver: Reiinventing the documentary project (or, Grierson lies bleeding). In: Continuum: Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , Vol. 11, Issue 1, 1997, pp. 67–82. doi : 10.1080 / 10304319709359419 (article provides background information as well as an analysis of audience reactions to the film)
  • Jane Roscoe, Craig Hight: Forgotten Silver: A New Zealand Television Hoax and Its Audience. In: Alexandra Juhasz, Jesse Lerner (Ed.): F is for Phony. Fake Documentary and Truth's Undoing. University of Minnesota Press, Minneapolis 2006, pp. 171-186.
  • Fabian Probst: Films that lie: Mockumentaries. Forgotten Silver as an example of a hybrid form between fiction and non-fiction. In: Kornelia Imesch (ed.): With Klio's eyes. The picture as a historical source. Athena-Verlag, Oberhausen 2013, pp. 219–236.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Forgotten Silver. In: Lexicon of International Films . Film service , accessed March 2, 2017 .Template: LdiF / Maintenance / Access used 
  2. ↑ Forgotten Silver at Rotten Tomatoes (English)