29 May 2009 - The 'V' Energy 48HOURS Furious Filmmaking competition is officially the largest filmmaking competition in the Southern Hemisphere attracting close to 700 teams with over 10,000 people participating throughout New Zealand.

As part of the national heats and city finals 687 short films were shown in cinemas this week to enthusiastic audiences nationwide. A panel of judges in six different cities had the unenviable task of selecting finalists from the hundreds of entries. The judges commented on the incredibly high standard of films submitted this year making it extremely difficult to narrow down to just 12 final films in each city.

Finalists had their films screened at city finals this week in Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, Wellington, Christchurch and Dunedin with one winner from each city announced.

And the winners are . . . . Auckland winner: Sinistral - ``Natures Baby'' - Nature Run Amok.  Auckland runner up: The Downlow Concept - ``Like we're back in Primary school'' - Nature Run Amok

Hamilton winner: Guerrilla Monkeys - ``Hardwood Floors'' - Parallel WorldHamilton runner up: Holy Zarquon Different Fish- ``Speed Date'' - Real Time

Gisborne winner: Kaiti Hill - ``Man on a stick'' - Educational Gisborne runner up: 2 Many Brown Faces - ``Koro's Tekoteko'' - Horror

Wellington winner: Killah Walz/Orca - ``Otack Otack Otack Fall'' - Politically Incorrect / Religious Wellington runner up: A Trick With A Knife - ``Call Me Al'' - Musical

Christchurch winner: TBALC - ``New Fish'' - Musical/Dance Christchurch runner up: Zebra Crossing Inc. - ``Frequencies'' - Real Time

Dunedin winner: Line Men - ``Charlotte'' - Big Twist Dunedin runner up: Know Idea Productions - ``Girl from Sweden, Maori from Dunedin'' - Politically Incorrect

Organizer Ant Timpson says ``The overall standard of the competition has definitely jumped up this year, which bodes very well for the future of filmmaking in New Zealand. I am in awe at what some teams can pull off in one weekend, I have a hard enough time taking the rubbish out let alone making a brilliant short film.''

The winning shorts from the 'V' Energy 48 HOURS FURIOUS FILMMAKING from each city will  compete against Peter Jackson's Wildcard picks during a C4 Television special on June 20 and one film will be crowned Grand National Champ 2009, taking home a big portion of the $100,000 prize pool.