Tropfest is the world's largest short film festival. It has also quickly become known as the world's first truly global film festival.
Tropfest began in 1993 as a screening for 200 people in a cafe in Sydney but has since become the largest platform for short films in the world. Tropfest Australia takes place in February each year in front of a live audience of approximately 150,000. The main event takes place in Sydney but live satellite events are also staged in Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Adelaide, Hobart, Perth and other cities. The event is broadcast live on television and webcast to viewers around Australia and the world.
Increasingly, Tropfest events take place in cities around the world including London, Berlin, Toronto, Bangkok, and New York. The inaugural Tropfest Arabia, encompassing approximately 33 countries throughout the Middle East and North Africa, will take place in Abu Dhabi in November 2011.
Tropfest distinguishes itself from other events by being a 'content generation' platform, rather than merely an exhibition platform. Filmmakers are required to create new works for the festival which must include an item, known as the "Tropfest Signature Item" (TSI) and which changes each year. The films must be less than 7 minutes (including titles and credits) and be world premieres at the Tropfest event.
In November, 2011, it was announced that Tropfest was coming to New York in the Summer of 2012. Filmmakers were invited to 'grab a camera, start shooting and tell their story through film'. Rumors on the internet have suggested a possible Tropfest Las Vegas, also in June, but details remain closely guarded as this event is yet to be announced.
Tropfest's prize pool is one of the richest in the short film arena, and includes international trips to develop filmmaking careers and 'work experience' with top filmmakers. As a result, Tropfest has become known as the undisputed premiere launch pad for filmmaking careers, although to date this has been most notable in Australia, where many commercial and critical successes are directed by Tropfest alumni.
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The festival's name is derived from the first year's location—the Tropicana Cafe in Darlinghurst, an inner-eastern suburb of Sydney. Created by well-known Australian-born filmmaker John Polson, the first festival was held in 1993 and was originally called the Tropicana Short Film Festival.
Since the beginning, Tropfest has managed to attract support from some of the most respected people in the local and international film world including Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Tom Cruise and others. Corporate supporters have included Intel, Sony, Qantas, Cointreau and MadFish Wines. Movie Extra is currently the primary sponsor of Tropfest Australia.
The winners are selected by a panel of judges made up of well known Australian and international film directors, actors, screen writers and producers, in addition to the previous year's winner.
Other Tropfest programs includes
In 2006 there were over 700 entrants and every year 16 finalists are screened in public parks and cafes around Australia. Sydney's annual audience of around 100,000 people attend The Domain to watch the finalists on three large video screens. Over 150,000 people attend Australia-wide.
The Sydney screening of Tropfest 2006 was abandoned after 13 films due to severe electrical storms. Screenings in other cities were not affected. With the judges located in Sydney it was necessary to announce the winners two days later at a press conference.
Each film must be no longer than seven minutes, have never been shown publicly before and contain the Tropfest Signature Item, which in 2008 was ‘8’(could be anything that incorporates an eight) to show that the film was made specifically for the festival.
For Tropfest 2007, Hoyts had a La Premiere VIP Lounge which sat atop the Tropfest production marquee in Sydney.[1]
In April 2007, Tropfest formed a partnership with PBL Media which would see festival content archived and screened across various PBL properties and brands.[2]
For Tropfest 2009, pay television channel Movie Extra replaced Sony as the naming rights sponsor for the next seven years. A new feature in 2009 was the live national broadcast of Tropfest and screening of the finalist films on the Movie Extra channel.[3]
Tropfest Australia 2011 was by far the largest Tropfest ever staged, and reached a national audience of approximately 1,000,000 people (not including the internet).
Tropfest is known for having one of the most successful Channels on YouTube, having attracted almost 10,000,000 video views for its films in a relatively short time period.
Each year, Tropfest requires that entries include a particular "signature item" or action to ensure that they are unique and are made specifically for the festival.
No TSI was required for the 1993 festival.
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