Hollywood praise for short film by Jackson

WAR STORY: An image from the trailer for Peter Jackson's Crossing the Line.

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A 15-minute movie about World War I filmed in the Wairarapa this year by director Peter Jackson has attracted praise in Hollywood.
Watch trailer

The film, Crossing the Line, took only days to shoot, but attracted praise from Hollywood heavyweights including Steven Spielberg.

The film, which features biplane dogfights, bayonet charges and 30 cast and crew, was filmed in Masterton.

"Did Peter really shoot this in two days?" Spielberg reportedly asked after viewing the film at a US National Association of Broadcasters' conference in April, just weeks after it was shot.

Clips from the film are now available online.

Crossing the Line was created to show off a prototype film camera.

The Red One cameras – the brainchild of United States inventor Jim Jannard – are now in production and expected to go on sale next month.

They boast an advanced sensor chip called Mysterium, which cost around $25,000 each and which is said to produce quality that is "better than film".

Jackson had offered to field-test the cameras after he saw early tests of them in Los Angeles.

Jannard, needing a project to showcase the chips, took him up on the offer.

A spokesman for Jackson told the Herald on Sunday that professional actors and a crew from Wellington spent a few days in Masterton working on Crossing the Line, with studio work in Wellington the week.