Costa Botes

Director

December 27, 1960 (65 years)

New Zealand

Biography

Costa Botes has been an independent film-maker in New Zealand since the early 1980s. His short film Stalin’s Sickle won the jury prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival in 1988. Forgotten Silver, a mock-documentary co-written & co-directed with Peter Jackson in 1995 created a national sensation in 1995. It won a special critics prize at the Venice Film Festival, and has become a cult favourite worldwide. Costa’s first feature film, Saving Grace (1997), was selected for competition at …

Filmography

8.8

The Making of 'The Two Towers'

A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of 2002's "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers." Created by filmmaker Costa Botes, personally selected by director Peter Jackson, this documentary uses raw footage to reveal the inside story on how the greatest adventure film franchise was born.

7.2

Forgotten Silver

The life story of Colin McKenzie, a forgotten pioneer of international cinema who was born in rural New Zealand in 1888.

N/A

The Ray Bradbury Theater: A Sound of Thunder

S04E06 of "The Ray Bradbury Theater." A company provides big game hunters with expeditions to the past to kill dinosaurs. They only have one rule that's there to protect the time line: Never get off the beaten path.

6.6

Candyman: The David Klein Story

Candyman tells the amazing true story of David Klein, an eccentric candy inventor from LA, who came up with the concept of Jelly Belly jellybeans. These colorful beans became a pop culture phenomenon, revolutionized the candy industry and were personally endorsed by Ronald Reagen. However, David's eccentric personality and peculiar sense of business led him to leave Jelly Belly just as it was about to explode and grow into a billion dollar enterprise. Is there room for eccentric genius in the modern corporate world? The film tells how Klein may have lost his beans, but kept his soul.

N/A

The Making of The Lord of the Rings Collection

Created by filmmaker Costa Botes (personally selected by Peter Jackson), this documentary uses raw footage to reveal the inside story on how the greatest adventure film franchise was born. Originally included as a bonus feature with "The Lord of the Rings - Limited Edition" DVD sets, later rarely released again.

6.9

The Tribe

The Tribe is a New Zealand/British post-apocalyptic fictional TV series primarily aimed at teenagers. It is set in a near-future in which all adults have been wiped out by a deadly virus, leaving the children of the world to fend for themselves. The show's focus is on an unnamed city inhabited by tribes of children and teenagers. It was primarily filmed in and around Wellington, New Zealand. The series was created by Raymond Thompson and Harry Duffin and was developed and produced by the Cloud 9 Screen Entertainment Group in conjunction with the UK's Channel 5. It has aired on over 40 broadcast networks around the world.

6.9

The Ray Bradbury Theater

A Canadian-produced fantastic anthology series scripted by famed science-fiction author Ray Bradbury. Many of the teleplays were based upon Bradbury's novels and short stories.

8.8

The Making of 'The Fellowship of the Ring'

A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of 2001's "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring." Created by filmmaker Costa Botes, personally selected by director Peter Jackson, this documentary uses raw footage to reveal the inside story on how the greatest adventure film franchise was born.

8.8

The Making of 'The Return of the King'

A behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of 2003's "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King." Created by filmmaker Costa Botes, personally selected by director Peter Jackson, this documentary uses raw footage to reveal the inside story on how the greatest adventure film franchise was born.

N/A

When the Cows Come Home

When the Cows Come Home introduces audiences to Tilly and Maggie, a pair of cows that musician, journalist, artist and cow whisperer, Andrew Johnstone has befriended and subsequently saved from slaughter. The garrulous herdsman is enthusiastic to expound his views on animal husbandry, bovine communication and the vagaries of life in general, before the film walks us back through the events that have shaped the singular farmer-philosopher. From personal family tragedy to warring with Catholic school authorities, innovating in Hamilton’s nascent music scene to creating guerrilla art installations; Johnstone’s life has had a truly idiosyncratic trajectory. Mental health issues may have seen him retreat to life on the farm, but the film makes clear its subject’s restless inquisitiveness is far from being put out to pasture.

N/A

The Last Dogs of Winter

Costa Botes takes us far, far north of his native New Zealand for this magical documentary about man's four-legged friends. Brian Ladoon is an eccentric, lone-wolf Canadian who has dedicated his life to saving the extinction-threatened Qimmiq - a species of canine used by local Inuits for centuries as hunting-hounds but now abandoned in favour of motorised skidoos. The snowy wilds of remote northern Manitoba make for a stirringly picturesque backdrop for footage of the rugged but irresistibly cute Qimmiq, not to mention the polar bears who occasionally amble by. Doing their best to make an impact among such furry scene stealers are the crustily ornery Ladoon and his unflappably laid-back younger Kiwi assistant, former teen-TV pinup Caleb Ross.

N/A

Daytime Tiger

Costa Botes’ portrait of New Zealand writer Michael Morrissey is indeed a tiger-ride – an up-close encounter with an extremely intelligent man in the grip of bipolar disorder. It’s also a harrowing portrait of marriage vows tested to the extreme. Morrissey was diagnosed with manic depression in 1999 but long rejected available medication, believing it would stymie his genius. Having failed to find a publisher for his written account, he invited the filmmaker into his house to record his battle to ‘tame the tiger’ through willpower.

8.0

Behind the Bull

When Forgotten Silver — the story of pioneer filmmaker Colin McKenzie — unspooled on 29th October 1995, in a Sunday TV slot normally reserved for drama, many believed the fable was fact. Controversy ensued as a public reacted (indignant, thrilled) to having the wool pulled over their eyes. Costa Botes, who originated the mockumentary, later made this doco, looking at the construction of McKenzie's epic, tragic, yet increasingly ridiculous story. He interviews co-conspirator Peter Jackson and other pranksters, and they muse on the film's priceless impact.

N/A

Yes That's Me: Dave Murphy Plays the Blues

After 35 years of playing, one of New Zealand’s most accomplished Blues troubadours had still never recorded an album. Some of Dave Murphy’s friends decided that had to change. This film documents the creation of his first long playing record.

N/A

Stalin's Sickle

It is 1962. New Zealand is emerging from the austerity of the 1950s into a new age. Daniel is a nine-year-old Catholic boy, an only child given to colourful imaginings. He discovers that an old man who passes the plate in church bears a striking resemblance to the great Russian dictator, Joseph Stalin. Daniel starts to believe that the old man really is Stalin, come to take over New Zealand. Daniel takes it upon himself to give Stalin a fright and send him on his way. He hits on a method of doing so after finding where the old man lives and spying on him. Stalin is banished, but events take a strange twist, leaving Daniel with an even worse threat to deal with.

3.0

Angie

Angie Meiklejohn, prominent and articulate Centrepoint survivor, is joined by her siblings in this lucid exploration of the legacy of sexual abuse, directed without a hint of sensationalism by Costa Botes.

N/A

Catching the Tide: Sam Hunt's Cook Strait

Originally made for NZ television in 1988, this one hour documentary is now something of a time capsule or historical piece. It's also a record of a peerless performance by one of this country's greatest poets.

N/A

Struggle No More: The Windy City Strugglers Story

Their music has been described as deep blues from way down under, as if the Mississippi River had gorged its way through the center of the earth and come home in...New Zealand of all places. They are the Windy City Strugglers. This film offers a funny and passionate look at 40 years of obscurity and great music.

N/A

Kathmandu Blues

A vivid first person look at the annual blues festival held in Nepal. The film features many performers but also shows the city and country, including a hair raising bus trip and a visit to the elephant breeding centre at Chitwan National Park.

N/A

Nigel Gavin: A Job with the Circus

Nigel Gavin ran away with a circus when he was fifteen. Many years later, he is still performing incredible feats. This concert recording features a mix of original compositions and stunning freeform improvisations, mostly played on Gavin's bespoke Laurie Williams guitar; but also on a unique 11 string Glyssentar guitar that needs to be heard to be believed.

You've seen it all! · 20 titles displayed