Fixed at Tropfest

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Posted 2014-11-19 by Douglas Sutherland-Bruce ⇒ follow

Sun 07 Dec 2014

The world's largest short film festival, Tropfest , has found a new home in historic Midland and the public viewing of the finalists which attracted an audience of over 150,000 last year will happen this 7th of December.

The finalists, of which there are sixteen, are from all over Australia, but only one is from Western Australia - Fixed.

The films cannot be longer than seven minutes, which makes for very tight writing and editing. Blaise Pascal famously said about a letter: "I made this very long, because I did not have the leisure to make it shorter."

Anyone who has written a one act play or a short story knows how much harder they are to write because you have no space to expand on character development and sub-plotting, no leisure to be self-indulgent.

In one sense that makes them the truest story-telling art form, essentials only.

The story of Fixed is a simple one, deceptively simple, because at its core it has a great deal to say. Jemimah is a five-year& #8208 ;old, desperate for her dog, Tilly, to have puppies. When she learns her parents plan to have Tilly desexed, Jemimah embarks on a quest to get Tilly pregnant.

She sets up a lemonade stand in her front yard, advertising her needs, only to have it promptly shut down by her mother. She deletes her older sister's online dating profile, making it a profile for Tilly. And that's where the plot gets interesting.

The directorial/production team are all local, Codey Wilson, Burleigh Smith and Rob Viney, as are the actors - Amara Harnisch as Jemimah, Paul Treasure, Alitia Harnisch, Jamie Smith, Samantha Mitchell and Marian Byrne, not to forget Daisy as Tilly, the dog.

Fixed may be seen at Tropfest on December 7th in the car park at the corner of Cale Street and The Crescent in Midland from 7:00pm, although I'd get there early at Katy Steele will be performing live from 5:30pm.

Entry is free.