Winner Of NZ’s Largest Film Competition Revealed

The winner of the “V” 48HOURS film competition was announced live on C4 10.30pm July 3rd.

For the first time the Apee (48HOURS equivalent of an Oscar) was awarded to a team outside of Auckland.

In another first, the winning film F*Dance, by Wellington team Puppy Guts (produced and directed by newcomer Corie Geerders), was within the feared genre of Dance movie. F*Dance didn’t even know they were in the Grand Final until earlier today. Their selection in the final was secured by winning a Peter Jackson wildcard entry that wasn’t announced until this morning. An international panel of judges including programmers and organisers from the UCLA Film Archive, New York Museum of Moving Image, LA Film Festival and more voted on the shorts this year, ensuring the winning short held up to an international audience. Peter Jackson described F*Dance as “Inventive and smart… Lots of fun”.

Corie Geerders and his team Puppy Guts receive a prize package worth over $60,000 (the biggest prize pool of any film competition in NZ) which includes everything you need to make your own film - cash courtesy of Wingnut Films and the NZ Film Commission, a Panasonic plasma screen, equipment hire from Rocket Rental, Services from Images Post, audio services from Auckland Audio, travel from Intrepid Travel, recording services from York St Studio, services from Park Rd Post and movie tickets from flicks.co.nz

This isn’t the first year a Peter Jackson selection has gone on to win the national competition. Last years winners, Team Lense Flare, were a wildcard entry in 2007 and again in 2008. Lense Flare’s 2008 time travel short Beyond Belief placed Runner Up in this years competition. This is the first time 2 wildcard films have taken out both top prizes. Lense Flare are headed by Johnny Barker, well-known to NZ audiences as Shortland St’s Ferndale Strangler. Lense Flare’s prize package is worth a whopping $15,000

“The caliber of this years entries were outstanding”, says Ant Timpson, founder of 48HOURS. “The international judges were impressed with what they saw and the voting was very close between the top 4 movies”

Other winners from the short films night of nights are:

Panasonic Best Cinematography: Team Del Sur (Auckland)

Images Post Sexiest Short Award : team Sinistral

Nandos Spiciest Scene: Just Panda wth their film PERFECT

Best Damn Teen Film: Donnie and the Darkos

Best All Girl Film : Oi Girl

48HOURS is NZ’s largest filmmaking competition. This year over 600 teams (that’s over 10,000 people particiapting) competed in the centres of Auckland, Wellington, Gisborne, Christchurch and Dunedin. The winners of these regional finals went up each other and 3 wildcard entries chosen by Peter Jackson in the Grand Final which was judged by an international panel of judges. All the films were made in 48hours and all included the same prop, character and line of dialogue that they received minutes before the 48 hour period began.