A Te Anau film company has won a top international film award for its work on fly fishing.

Gin-Clear Media won Best Film of the Year in the Drake Fly Fishing Video Awards last week.

The awards are part of the International Fly Tackle Dealer Show in Reno, in the United States.

Company director and film maker Nick Raygaert said he was "absolutely over the moon" with the win. The company had entered the competition several times previously but without success.

The award was the highest accolade in the fly fishing film-making industry, he said. The company won for its natural history-style entry called Predator.

The film explores the world for the largest and most powerful fish that can be caught with a fly rod.

Fly fishing was a huge industry in New Zealand, contributing millions to the economy, he said.

Although the entry submitted for the Drake award was only a snapshot of the feature film, once completed it would include footage from "seven or eight" countries, including New Zealand.

The first two minutes of the film were shot in Southland, with further footage to be shot in October.

The film will be shown at a film festival at Invercargill's Reading Cinema at 7.30pm on September 5.

cassandra.pokoney@stl.co.nz

- © Fairfax NZ News

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