Tropfest 2017

words by josh ives

Marking its 25^th birthday this year, Tropfest started with one man, a café and a very simple idea: to introduce a platform for upcoming filmmakers to tell their story to the world.

It’s gone one step further, in such a relatively short lifespan, it has become the world’s largest short film festival and one of Australia’s most iconic cultural events.

Join us next week for @parramattalanes festival as we showcase 25 years of Tropfest in our very own Tropfest lane, alongside entertainment and great food!

A post shared by TROPFEST (@tropfest) on Oct 6, 2016 at 4:07pm PDT

Each year, Tropfest finalists are given a particular theme to work with in their short films. The Tropfest Signature Item, or TSI, for this year is a Pineapple.  Also, each film is given a strict run time of only 7 minutes, so get ready for 420 seconds of action, emotion, comedy and drama from each sketch!

As for the short features themselves, like everything in life and in movies, it’s a completely mixed bag! From titles such as Diary of a YouTuber by Holly Hargreaves, The Mother Situation by Matt Day, to the aptly titled, sure-to-be-classic, Can’t I Just Shit In Peace? by Julia Morris, you know there’s bound to be something here to suit every taste.

But in the end, there can be only one winner! In a finalist list of 25 runners, each and every screening will be firmly but fairly scrutinised and marked by a panel of expert judges, which include our own Hollywood starlet, Rose Byrnes.

What a night! We want to offer huge congratulations to our 16 Finalists and a big thanks to each and every one of you who joined us in @centparklands, at one of our live venues across Australia or tuned into the live broadcast on @sbs2australia. #LoveTropfest

A post shared by TROPFEST (@tropfest) on Feb 15, 2016 at 12:29am PST

Will we discover the next Spielberg this year? Or maybe even the next Leo? Come on down to Parramatta Park next month and support our Aussie talent as they put it all out there in seven precious minutes of film. It’s free and it’s a whole lot of fun!

The Tropfest Festival is running from February 7 to 11, with the 16 top Tropfest Films screening on the Saturday 11. For more details and to reserve a patch of grass, click HERE.