AboutTropfest
Movie Extra
Tropfest is Australia’s most prestigious short film festival and one of its
most iconic cultural events. It is also
the
largest short film festival in the world. At home, Tropfest is recognised
for its enormous contribution to the development of the Australian film
industry by providing unique platforms for emerging filmmakers through its
events and initiatives, and new and expanded audiences for their work.
John Polson,
the ‘Tropicana Short Film Festival’ [as it was originally known] started as an
informal short film screening for cast, crew and friends at the Tropicana Cafe
in Sydney’s Darlinghurst. More than 200 people showed up for that first
screening. Inspired by the turn out, John decided that a full-fledged short
film festival was the next step.Eighteen years
on, Movie Extra Tropfest in Australia attracts a live national audience of more
than
150,000 people on a single night.
The event is hosted at Sydney’s Domain in the Royal Botanic Gardens, with live
satellite links to outdoor locations in Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, Brisbane,
Hobart, Adelaide and Surfer’s Paradise.
In 2009, for the
first time,
Movie Extra conducted a
live television broadcast of the event
as part of their naming rights sponsorship of the Australian events. This
partnership brought the festival to more than
1 million subscriberslive
at home and at unofficial sites including pubs, clubs and community centres
around the country.
The annual short
film competition is open to anyone who wishes to enter – regardless of their
background or experience.
16 Finalists
are selected from an entry pool of an average
650 annual entries and compete for more than
$150,000 in prizes. Tropfest films are unique in that they have all
been made specifically for Tropfest, will premiere at Tropfest and include the
Tropfest Signature Item (or TSI), which
changes each year. The TSI for Movie Extra Tropfest 2010 is “DICE”.
Tropfest is
free to attend. The festival itself is
an outdoor celebration complete with live music and entertainment on the
Gibson Artist Stage, public catering
and bars, red carpet arrivals and the highly anticipated film screenings
followed by an awards ceremony.
The support and
involvement of film personalities from around the world has become one of the
trademarks of the festival. Selection of the winning Tropfest film takes place
live on the night of the festival by a
panel of high profile industry and
celebrity
judges. Past judges have included
Nicole
Kidman, Naomi Watts, Toni Collette, Rose Byrne, Geoffrey Rush, Russell Crowe,
John Woo, Samuel L Jackson, Baz Luhrmann, Keanu Reeves, Sam Neill, Ewan
McGregor, Carrie-Anne Moss, Jane Campion, Salma Hayek, George Miller and
Gabriel Byrne to name a few.
The festival attracts
a wide degree of media coverage but it is the casual, grass roots nature of the
event, rather than its high profile, which ensures the continued support of its
patrons and guests.
The competition
is taken very seriously and is considered the winner’s ticket to a successful
career in film or television. Notable alumni include filmmakers such as Alister
Grierson, Rowan Woods, Clayton Jacobson, Nash Edgerton, Peter Carstairs, Rob
Carlton,
Sam Worthington, Robert Connolly, Leon Ford, Justin Drape, Tim Bullock and Elissa Down.Tropfest has
expanded internationally to include a new competition and festival in North
America,
Tropfest New York
(previously known as Tropfest@Tribeca during its two-year partnership with the
Tribeca Film Festival.) Other global events will soon be announced.
Other Tropfest
filmmaker initiatives include
Trop Jr,
a short filmmaking competition and festival for kids under 15; the
TFP, which gives past finalists the
opportunity to develop their first feature or television series
; MAX TROPSCORE film scoring and synching competition; Women in Film; and TropShorts
film distribution.Tropfest also
hosts a number of
international
screening events in cities including
Bangkok,
Beijing, London and
Toronto.