Forgotten Silver

Forgotten Silver (1997) is a New Zealand mockumentary you can watch online on iFILM, co-directed by Peter Jackson and Costa Botes. The film presents itself as a genuine archival discovery: Jackson supposedly finds reels of film hidden in a shed, shot by one Colin McKenzie — a rural New Zealander born in 1888 who, according to the documentary, invented the close-up, sound film, and color photography before anyone else.

The execution is precise. Vintage footage, sepia photographs, earnest testimony from Sam Neill and American critic Leonard Maltin — all delivered without a crack of irony. When it aired on New Zealand television in 1995, a portion of the audience believed it. The resulting public argument was probably the most honest response anyone could have had.

Made before Jackson pivoted to Tolkien, Forgotten Silver shows what he was actually good at when working small: finding the comedy in cinematic mythology, and building it brick by brick until it collapses. At 53 minutes, it earns every one of them. Stream Forgotten Silver (1997) online on iFILM.