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Costa Botes (born 1958) is a New Zealand writer, director and cinematographer. Botes is best known in New Zealand for Forgotten Silver (1995), a documentary he co-wrote and co-directed with Peter Jackson. About a fictional pioneer of the film industry, Forgotten Silver promoted considerable discussion and was proclaimed by Guinness World Records as the greatest film hoax in history. In 1988 his short film, Stalin's Sickle, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, in France. His feature film, Saving Grace (1998), based on the play by Duncan Sarkies, was selected... MORE

Costa Botes (born 1958) is a New Zealand writer, director and cinematographer. Botes is best known in New Zealand for Forgotten Silver (1995), a documentary he co-wrote and co-directed with Peter Jackson. About a fictional pioneer of the film industry, Forgotten Silver promoted considerable discussion and was proclaimed by Guinness World Records as the greatest film hoax in history. In 1988 his short film, Stalin's Sickle, won the Grand Jury Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Short Film Festival, in France. His feature film, Saving Grace (1998), based on the play by Duncan Sarkies, was selected for competition at the Valladolid and Asia Pacific film festivals. Botes has worked as a director for hire on various TV shows, including episodes of Ray Bradbury Theater, and The Tribe. Botes was also involved with the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, first writing a detailed précis of the Lord of the Rings books to help his friend Jackson (whom he met in 1986) pitch the idea to a film studio, then filming three behind-the-scenes documentaries about the making of the films. These documentaries were held over for a time, but eventually released with the films on August 29, 2006 in what New Line LESS