Film-maker Costa Botes only made it into film school because someone else dropped out, but it was the entree into a life immersed in cinema. The Wellingtonian made several short films after graduating from Ilam School of Fine Arts in Christchurch, becoming a full-time film-maker in 1985. He was also film critic for The Dominion for a decade. His film
Stalin’s Sickle won a jury prize at the Clermont-Ferrand film festival in France, and Botes also directed four episodes of anthology series
Ray Bradbury Theatre. His most notorious work,
Forgotten Silver, screened in a
Montana Sunday Theatre slot in October 1995. A collaboration with Peter Jackson, it purported to tell the tale of pioneering film-maker Colin McKenzie, allegedly the first New Zealand film-maker to introduce colour and sound to the medium. Despite its far-fetched claim McKenzie filmed Richard Pearse flying nine months before the Wright Brothers achieved controlled flight, many believed the elaborate hoax was true. Botes’ first feature, 1997’s
Saving Grace, was selected to compete at the Valladolid and Asia-Pacific festivals. In 1999, Botes began documenting the making of Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy
The Lord of the Rings. Much of his footage became extra features on the film’s DVD release. His own three feature-length documentaries were released in 2006. In his later years Botes directed a number of documentaries about musicians, including a feature-length film about veteran group The Windy City Strugglers. Other acclaimed documentaries included
Candyman,
The Last Dogs of Winter,
Act of Kindness and
When the Cows Come Home. Costa Botes died on November 21 aged 67. — Agencies/Allied Media
