TROPFEST 2006
Went for the Sony Tropfest just now at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl with Nikolle.
This is an annual short film competition that has contestants making films which must contain the theme for the year. This year's theme was "Bubble" & tonight's event was the screening of the films of the 16 finalists. The best thing was that it was free, which I think is a really good way to get more people to recognise & appreciate the film making talents in their midst.
The main action was actually in Sydney, at The Domain, & we were linked via satellite to the proceedings. There was quite an interesting panel of judges, including well-known Aussie actors like Toni Collette, Guy Pearce & Rose Byrne, as well as the director of last year's sleeper Aussie independent hit film , Wolf Creek.
There was also a simultaneous screening held in Brisbane & I think the combined attendance at all the venues was about 90 000 !
The films were rather varied, including both live action ones, as well as a few animation flicks. It was interesting to see how each film maker tried to incorporate the "bubble" into their films - almost like looking for Hitchcock's famous cameo appearances in each of his films. Some were rather obvious, but others were more unexpected, eg, thought bubbles, as used in the film entitled Silencer. That was quite different as it was integral to the plot of the film as well, although I must say it was truly a blokes-movie.
The funny thing was that halfway through the second half of the film fest, the message that Sydney had had to shut their screens down for safety reasons flashed across the screens. We later found out that due to the bad weather in Sydney ( it had been raining cats & dogs all evening as we could seen on the satellite-relayed pictures ) their satellite had given up & was not able to transmit, or so the Melbournian comperes said.
So while we folks in Melbourne, famous for its temperamental weather changes, actually got to watch all 16 films, the Sydneysiders had to miss the last 2 and a half as they were all sent home. Truly a rare moment - when the weather in Melbourne was actually BETTER than in Sydney! Anyway, as a result, we had to be content to await the final results which would be published in the papers tomorrow. Also, all viwers could take part in the People's Choice poll online or via SMS & vote for their favourite film - which is probably more interesting to know & perhaps more relevant to any budding film maker who is keen to make films which will be commerically viable.
A copy of all 16 films in the finals will be given free with this coming Saturday's The Age newspapers - so those who missed tonite's screening can still watch the films , which is another great way to publicise the work of these film makers.
Altogether a very encouraging way to do things - maybe something we could emulate back in our Lion City ?
This is an annual short film competition that has contestants making films which must contain the theme for the year. This year's theme was "Bubble" & tonight's event was the screening of the films of the 16 finalists. The best thing was that it was free, which I think is a really good way to get more people to recognise & appreciate the film making talents in their midst.
The main action was actually in Sydney, at The Domain, & we were linked via satellite to the proceedings. There was quite an interesting panel of judges, including well-known Aussie actors like Toni Collette, Guy Pearce & Rose Byrne, as well as the director of last year's sleeper Aussie independent hit film , Wolf Creek.
There was also a simultaneous screening held in Brisbane & I think the combined attendance at all the venues was about 90 000 !
The films were rather varied, including both live action ones, as well as a few animation flicks. It was interesting to see how each film maker tried to incorporate the "bubble" into their films - almost like looking for Hitchcock's famous cameo appearances in each of his films. Some were rather obvious, but others were more unexpected, eg, thought bubbles, as used in the film entitled Silencer. That was quite different as it was integral to the plot of the film as well, although I must say it was truly a blokes-movie.
The funny thing was that halfway through the second half of the film fest, the message that Sydney had had to shut their screens down for safety reasons flashed across the screens. We later found out that due to the bad weather in Sydney ( it had been raining cats & dogs all evening as we could seen on the satellite-relayed pictures ) their satellite had given up & was not able to transmit, or so the Melbournian comperes said.
So while we folks in Melbourne, famous for its temperamental weather changes, actually got to watch all 16 films, the Sydneysiders had to miss the last 2 and a half as they were all sent home. Truly a rare moment - when the weather in Melbourne was actually BETTER than in Sydney! Anyway, as a result, we had to be content to await the final results which would be published in the papers tomorrow. Also, all viwers could take part in the People's Choice poll online or via SMS & vote for their favourite film - which is probably more interesting to know & perhaps more relevant to any budding film maker who is keen to make films which will be commerically viable.
A copy of all 16 films in the finals will be given free with this coming Saturday's The Age newspapers - so those who missed tonite's screening can still watch the films , which is another great way to publicise the work of these film makers.
Altogether a very encouraging way to do things - maybe something we could emulate back in our Lion City ?
posted by J Wong at 11:36 PM
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