Operation RAMBU

He was an 80s movie star and Indonesia's answer to Sylvester Stallone, but can New Zealander Peter O'Brian realise his unfulfilled potential and return to the big screen after being missing-in-action for 20 years?

In 1986, a 30-year-old itinerant teacher from New Zealand - Peter O'Brian - is travelling through Jakarta, Indonesia, on his Big OE when he is mistaken in the street for Sylvester Stallone by a film producer. When offered the role of Alex Rambu in 'The Intruder' - the Indonesian rip-off of Rambo - Peter is catapulted to fame.

Considered 'trash classics' by his small-but-loyal fanbase, Peter goes on to make a whirlwind trail of eight feature films across a decade, becoming one of the most celebrated action movie stars in Indonesia. Then, in 1998, he disappears from the action movie world without a trace.

But now he's back! And living in Tauranga!

After over 20 years away from acting, can Peter face his biggest challenge to date: a return to starring roles on the silver screen?

OPERATION: RAMBU! is a humorous, empathetic, action-packed story of one man's reflection on the fateful incidents of his past and an exploration into the idea that all art, no matter how low-brow, has value.

We are very excited to be selected for Loading Docs 2019 - a successful initiative where we can showcase Peter's incredible story and flex our filmmaking muscles. We would love for you to come on this journey with us by donating to our Boosted campaign. 

But it's all-or-nothing. If we reach our target of $2,500, then we unlock our first drawdown of $2,500 (from a total of $5,500) from Loading Docs. However, if we fall short of this target we won't be able to make this short documentary.

Help us raise more than our target and we could produce something truly fantastic: anything from a digital restoration process for Peter's films to adding retro 80s-tastic VFX and animation to our story, or maybe even travelling to Indonesia with Peter to meet some of the characters from his past and hopefully unearth celluloid prints of his old films!

We thank you for taking the time to check out our project profile and pitch video. Any donation, no matter how small, can help us bring Peter's untold story to life.

We greatly appreciate your support!

Loading Docs is supported by NZ on Air with additional support from NZ Film Commission and Te M?ngai P?ho.

About The Director

Steve Austin holds diplomas in both Performing Arts and Theatre Studies and has extensive past experience working as a professional critic, casting agent, and itinerant drama tutor.

From 2005 to 2010, Steve was an integral part of the management team of V48HOURS Furious Filmmaking. As New Zealand Operations Manager for 2009 to 2010, he helped grow the profile and standing of the competition within the film industry. In Christchurch, as Regional Manager, he built the local competition from the ground up and has been a passionate advocate of short film growth and development both in the region and New Zealandly.

More recently, he has starred in low-budget feature GHOST SHARK 2: URBAN JAWS and was an Associate Producer for Wallace Productions Ltd where he helmed their Video On Demand channel, oversaw re-releases of older titles (including the recent restoration of DESPERATE REMEDIES) and managed executive production feature film commitments (HUNT FOR THE WILDERPEOPLE, THE BREAKER UPPERERS, BEYOND THE KNOWN WORLD).

Steve is extremely passionate about film in every aspect, from all angles and is always striving to grow and support the wider industry. OPERATION: RAMBU! will be Steve's first film as director to be funded through a local platform.

About The Producer

Rajneel Singh is a multi-award-winning filmmaker who has over fifteen years experience in the industry. In that time, he has worked as an actor, writer, producer, editor, post-production supervisor and director for television, commercials, music videos, documentaries, live theatre and feature films.

Among his notable credits include the critically acclaimed film WARU, the children's television series CUSTARD'S WORLD and NIA'S EXTRAORDINARY LIFE, the Rob Tapert produced musical show PLEASUREDOME, the hit web series DARRYL: AN OUTWARD BOUND STORY, the television drama THIS IS PIKI, the mockumentary series FIND ME A MAORI BRIDE, his award-winning short films BIG BAD WOLVES and BLANK SPACES and, finally, over ten years of documentary/reality editing experience for Maori Television and TVNZ including TE PATAKA KORERO, TAMAKI PAENGA HIRA, WHANAU LIVING, HE KURA TE TANGATA and the Discovery Channel series FLIGHTPATH TELEVISION.

Rajneel has a passion for genre cinema and genre stories and OPERATION: RAMBU! is part of that kaupapa through which he seeks to further enrich New Zealand's cinematic landscape.