Back in 1958, a 12 year-old boy from Cincinnati, Ohio named
Steven Spielberg borrowed his dad's 8mm camera to make a Western entitled "The Last Gunfight." Whilst the film got him his photography merit badge at boy scouts, it didn't set the world alight and it would take another 35 years of hard work to win an Oscar.
Nowadays it is a great deal easier to get your films out there. Anyone with a camera on their mobile phone and access to the internet can become a budding director of a short film.
If, however, your little nugget of cinematic brilliance is good enough, then you can enter it into next year's
Movie Extra Tropfest, Australia's most prestigious short film festival.
Tropfest began eighteen years ago. Then known as the "Tropicana Short Film Festival," Up and coming Australian film director
John Polson (Swimfan) organised an informal short film screening for cast, crew and friends at the
Tropicana Café in Sydney. More than 200 people showed up at the screening and the seed was sown. The festival is now the largest short film festival in the world, attracting 150,000 people on a single night.
The competition is open to anyone with the only rules being that films must be less than 7 minutes long, must never have been shown publicly and must contain the "Tropfest Signature Item." This year's item is dice. Filmmakers must incorporate dice into their film in some manner, whether heavily inspiring the film or including it in a more surreal way.
From over 650 entries, a shortlist of 16 films have been chosen to be screened on the night of the festival.
The event is held at
The Domain in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens and transmitted live via satellite to outdoor venues throughout Australia.
In Brisbane the films will be shown at
The South Bank Parklands. Entry to the screenings is free with the
site opening at 4pm. There will be entertainment and music on offer before the films begin broadcasting around 6pm.
After all 16 films have been shown (around 9pm,) a panel of judges will choose the winner. The panel is made up from Australian and International film directors, actors, screenwriters, producers and the previous year's winner. Past judges have included superstar names such as
Nicole Kidman,
Russell Crowe,
Samuel L. Jackson and
Keanu Reeves.
Whilst there are plenty of food stands around the Parklands, feel free to bring a picnic with you.
Be aware that the festival has a M15 classification so some of the films may contain course language, violence or sexual references.
Queensland is represented at the festival by Clayfield based
animators Sheldon Lieberman and Igor Coric. This is their first participation in the festival but its importance is not lost on them. "We've entered and even won a number of acclaimed international animation festivals over the years but many only have a local following or praise you for the technical knowledge" says Sheldon "Tropfest is well regarded throughout the world and a genuine opportunity for filmmakers"
"Having ran my own animation company for over 15 years, I know that it is almost impossible to make money from your films, no matter how much effort you put in. Tropfest is a fantastic opportunity to promote your work to a global audience"
These feelings are strongly echoed by Tropfest Managing Director Michael Laverty.
"Tropfest is extremely beneficial to the Australian film Industry. It provides funding and publicity to budding directors that they would otherwise struggle to get"
"It also encourages people to get out there and try filmmaking for themselves"
"If you have a script sitting in your drawer, get out there and film it"
So if you feel you have the talent to be the next Steven Spielberg then you have 12 months to create a film for the 2011 festival. In the meantime visit the Parklands on February 21st and find some inspiration.
See the festival Trailer
here
