Why Tropfest founder John Polson worried about bringing his beloved film festival back

1 month ago 18

On deadline day, the founder of the short film festival Tropfest, John Polson, was watching entries arrive online in rapid-fire fashion.

“There was one at 3.42,” the well-known actor turned director-producer said as he checked his laptop. “Another one at 3.42. One at 3.40. One at 3.39. One at 3.32. One at 3.24. They’re still coming in big time.”

Clare Pickering in the comic Tropfest entry The Hourglass Parlour, about a woman who inherits a family funeral parlour, which she also wrote and directed.

By the close of entries on Tuesday at 6pm, filmmakers from around Australia – and 17 other countries – had entered more than 700 short films.

Each one, up to seven minutes long, included an hourglass as a signature item to ensure it had been made specifically for a festival that has been a launchpad for scores of successful film and TV careers.

After the 2019 edition, it looked like Tropfest would be yet another festival that did not survive COVID. But after weeks of discussions last year, it is returning under a new high-profile board that includes Sarah Murdoch as chair, with Peter V’landys, Richard Weinberg, Bryan Brown and Polson.

The revived festival will take place in Sydney’s Centennial Park on February 22, with Margot Robbie as president of the jury, and screen globally on Tropfest’s YouTube channel.

It will be preceded by two days of workshops for emerging filmmakers at NIDA in Kensington.

“I’m shocked by the numbers,” Polson said. “It’s a great result. One of my big fears was ‘are people going to engage and make films?’ That’s now well and truly in the rear-view mirror.”

As well as shorts from every Australian state and territory, there were entries to screen out of competition from such unexpected countries as China, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, France, Germany and Iran.

More than 50 per cent of films are from first-time entrants, and a third are directed by women. At least two are reflections on the Bondi terror attack last month.

(from left) Lee McClenaghan, Brigitte Jarvis, Holly Hargreaves and Jennifer Monk in The Hourglass Parlour.

The festival, which Polson launched at the Tropicana Caffe in Sydney’s Darlinghurst in 1993, had about 800 entries at its peak, but that was when filmmakers had almost a year to conceive, shoot, edit and deliver their shorts.

This time, Tropfest’s return was only announced in September, with entries opening last month.

Polson has been impressed with the quality of the films he has seen so far.

“I’ve literally cried three or four times, and I’ve only watched about 20 of them,” he said. “There are some real heartbreaking films.

“There are definitely a lot of comedies but I think there’s an equal number of dramas this year. It’s been really moving to see these filmmakers making films that are so clearly not just something they pulled out of a drawer and slapped an hourglass on.”

As soon as she heard Tropfest was back, Melbourne actor-writer-director Clare Pickering decided to make a film. She had entered in both 2018 and 2019 but had not progressed past the shortlist.

Her film, which she submitted last week, grew out of an idea that she and actor-associate producer Roy Barker had for a six-part comedy series.

“I said to him, ‘Would it be all right if I write the pilot as a film for Tropfest and we enter it and see what happens?’ ” Pickering said. “He agreed.”

Their short is set in the Hourglass Funeral Parlour, which boasts the motto: “Because everyone’s time runs out”. Pickering plays Ursula, who gets a new perspective on life when she takes over the family business, despite being terrified of the dead.

By Tropfest standards, it was an ambitious undertaking.

“The shoot was a very long two days,” Pickering said. “It’s cost me at least five grand and most people worked for almost nothing. I had the biggest crew I’ve ever had: 20 crew, 10 actors and three locations.”

When she was living in Sydney – she is now in South Kingsville – Pickering would go along to Tropfest. Even before she wanted to make films, she enjoyed watching them with friends on a summer evening.

“Obviously we’re entering a competition but, for me, Tropfest is just the trigger to get out there and make things,” she said. “That’s why it’s such a great festival.

Clare Pickering in The Hourglass Parlour.

“Anyone with big budget, a small budget, experience, no experience, can actually make a film.”

Even if she is not third time lucky, Pickering will go to Tropfest again.

“In my community of filmmakers and actors, we’re so excited that it’s back and we’re all coming to Sydney even if we don’t get into the finals,” she said. “Everybody’s just jumping out of their skin.”

Every Tropfest entry will now be watched by at least three pre-selectors, with numbers being progressively whittled down.

The first 15 finalists will be announced later this month. The next best 10 entries will go on Tropfest’s YouTube channel and public voting will determine the 16th film.

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