tropfest 2004 sydney

[pliskin]

when: sunday 22 feb

Tropfest 2004 is an short film festival heald in the domain each yr in sydney. movies start after 8pm . ill be getting there quote early in the afternoon say 3pm to get good area close to ther screens. the best part is u bring your own cushions, blankets, beanbags, pinnic dinner, booze and stuff.
any1 else interedted in a fun night out under the stars watching great short films .

[Pirate]

Buffy and I will go along with you :)

[MoleTeaser]

Can I just take this opportunity to make a shameless plug for those of you who are into short films and the like.

Triple J's Framebreaks film festival thing is playing on Wednesday, the 25th of Feb, at the moonlight cinemas.

The reason I'm mentioning it is because they're playing this short documentary called Fantasy Men, which is about a few guys who take their sci-fi/fantasy really seriously.

Oh yeah, and I'm in it. Cheers.

[Jaz]

Yeah I'll be along too. (always see tropfest).

Brother of a mate of mine made an entry. Hope he makes it to shortlist.

[Shootz]

I'll definately be there. The amateur film making scene (especially the amateur pornographic film making scene) in Sydney is excellent and more than worth supporting. I'll be there with bells on and a large case of beer, also with bells on.

[imp]

I'll come too since you guys are gonna drag me along anyways huh? Crazy cats. ;)
I'm going to make some food the night before and pack it. Mmmmmm .. left overs.

[Chocoholic]

The link

Tropfest (http://www.tropfest.com/TropFest2004/festivalsites/sydney.asp?site=Fest)

[angel_b]

Hubby and I are planning on going, but it'll be more fun in a group.

Where's the meeting point going to be?

[Jaz]

Its best that first person who arrives camps out a good spot. Any takers for a 4pm arrival armed witha large tarp/blanket? (not me, stuff with friends)

[pliskin]

i was planning on getting there quite early 3-4'ish. any1 want my mobile number just pm me

[Jaz]

Just heard about this on the radio. SquatSpace is an anti-tropfest film festival, held at the same time, without films that all follow the punchline formula like you _always_ get at Tropfest. After the first hour its BYO films! (including an audience 'gong').

To be true to their name, they actually squat the venue, so the location will not be announced until sunday morning.

www.squatspace.com (http://www.squatspace.com) for details.

I'm going to go to this (coz really tropfest can sometimes be boring). Anyone else interested?

[Bifrost]

Wel I'm going along with a whole bunch of other folk...Hopefully a whole bunch of beer and wine and with luck, they'll have another major American ice cream company trying to break the Australian market as a sponsor and we'll get all the ice cream we can eat for free again!! That was my favourite year. Even better than the year Tex Perkins played and gave the crowd shit for not clapping (or recognising his existence at all)...I clapped, I really dig Tex, but most of the crowd were too caught up with their newspapers and picnics...And it was funny shit when he said "I'm sure one day we'll all look back on this and laugh"...

:D

[Bifrost]

Originally posted by Jaz
Just heard about this on the radio. SquatSpace is an anti-tropfest film festival, held at the same time, without films that all follow the punchline formula like you _always_ get at Tropfest. After the first hour its BYO films! (including an audience 'gong').

To be true to their name, they actually squat the venue, so the location will not be announced until sunday morning.

www.squatspace.com (http://www.squatspace.com) for details.

I'm going to go to this (coz really tropfest can sometimes be boring). Anyone else interested? Hey - I just checked the site and it's a Pirate theme!...Dress up a s pirate and BYO film.

Cool - it's on just outside the Devonshire St exit to Central station (go to the link for the pirate map).

Alas, I'm already committed to Tropfest, but this is a great idea and I'll probably find myself swinging by after the trop is said and done.

[MoleTeaser]

Some random thoughts on this years tropfest, or should I say this years SONY tropfest. Fucking sell-outs...

I loved the one with all the animated characters, and I thought the yin-yang one was really cute.

The one that won was funny (The Money), a hell of a lot funnier than the feature film that guy was in, You Can't Stop the Murders. But I do think it's pretty lame that a guy who's written and starred in a feature film is still entering tropfest. It should be for up-and-comers and new talent, I reckon.

I think the one at the servo was pretty lame. The punchline was so obvious. I did like though that it was the two guys who played brothers in The Castle.

I didn't see the last film cos I pissed off when it started raining. I didn't feel bad because I noticed that Nikki Webster was in it. Did anyone here watch that one? If so, any good?

So what did everyone else think of this years SONY tropfest?

[biomechanic]

I have to agree, the corporate sponsorship this year was way over the top..but I guess they have to do it so we can still get in for free.

'Yin' was my second favourite film of the night...'For Every Year' was so beautiful, it's a shame it didn't win (except for the Best Cinematography award, which was justitified)

[Whiskers]

The Yin film should have won.

I too missed the last couple due to the rain. Last year you could get a dvd of all the films free through some Herald promotion. Hopefully it will happen again this time around.

[angel_b]

Originally posted by Whiskers
The Yin film should have won.

I too missed the last couple due to the rain. Last year you could get a dvd of all the films free through some Herald promotion. Hopefully it will happen again this time around.
The DVD is free with today's Sydney Morning Herald.

We stayed until the end, rain and all.

Yin was my favourite also, followed closely by the winner, The Money. For Every Year was indeed beautifully shot and deserved the Best Cinematography award.

[DarkMaTTer]

Originally posted by MoleTeaser
Some random thoughts on this years tropfest, or should I say this years SONY tropfest. Fucking sell-outs...

I loved the one with all the animated characters, and I thought the yin-yang one was really cute.


Yes the two animated movies were the best movies of the night I think.


The one that won was funny (The Money), a hell of a lot funnier than the feature film that guy was in, You Can't Stop the Murders. But I do think it's pretty lame that a guy who's written and starred in a feature film is still entering tropfest. It should be for up-and-comers and new talent, I reckon.


You can't stop the murders was shocking, and I tend to agree that someone who has participated in the making of a feature film (no matter how gay it was) does not really deserve to win, particularly considering what the winner walked away with.


I think the one at the servo was pretty lame. The punchline was so obvious. I did like though that it was the two guys who played brothers in The Castle.


That, and the cricket one which was an old joke that I had read aaaages ago. Original ideas would be nice (which is why I liked the two animated ones) Still it was funny to hear everyone bagging out the servo one for how obvious it was.


I didn't see the last film cos I pissed off when it started raining. I didn't feel bad because I noticed that Nikki Webster was in it. Did anyone here watch that one? If so, any good?


I stayed! Got sopping wet for my troubles, but did see all the awards given out. The last movie was ok - it was a mockumentary on a sydney olympic volunteer that hadn't quite let go of the fact that the olympics were over. Certainly not the best of the night. In case you were wondering

1st: The Money
2nd: Confessions Of an Animation
3rd: Yin

with Yin taking the peoples choice award as well.


So what did everyone else think of this years SONY tropfest?

Overall it was pretty good - my first Tropfest, that I have seen live. It would be nice to see less of those punchline movies, 7 minutes is a long time, and it would be good to see some different styles.

I tend to agree that the SONY was a little bit in your face. I have no problems with corporate sponsorship, this is the largest small-film festival in the world, so its no surprise that it is going to have a lot of companies wanting to get behind it, but it could be a little bit more subtle. It was pretty funny to see Adam Spencer being forced to sprout shit about sony, however, and obviously struggling.

Speaking of mcs, if I go next year I goddamn hope that they keep whatshername from Nova in her box, god she was painful. And Sandrine was absolutely off her nut, which was rather funny to watch.

[DarkMaTTer]

Originally posted by angel_b
For Every Year was indeed beautifully shot and deserved the Best Cinematography award.

Won by the guy that proposed to his girlfriend in the interval :D

[tikdoph]

I was kind of surprised by the unoriginality of some of the entries. It seemed like I was watching an episode of Fast Forward (Australian comedy show that gave Eric Bana his first big break) rather than a short film festival. Or is this what most short film festivals are like? Where was the drama? Where were the messages? Don't short film producers have anything to say nowadays?

Mind you, it was kind of hard to watch what was going on due to the fact that we were sitting pretty close to one of the pathways and every moron and his dog would stop in front of us to talk on the phone/daydream/chat/space out/etc. You'd be amazed at how many people out there think they have a father who was a glassblower.

The films themselves didn't really run for very long. Which leaves me wondering why so many people attended who were more interested in getting something to eat or drink than actually watching the films while they were showing. Come on, people... we're not talking Gone With The Wind here. You're not going to starve while waiting for the half hour intermission. Sit down, watch the films that people went to so much effort to make, and next time, bring a picnic basket.

Like others, I was also put off by seeing people in some of the films who are already recognised mainstream actors. There are so many talented actors out there who are looking for a big break. Why use someone who is already established in the industry? Isn't Tropfest about getting new people the recognition they need to get a step up in the film making industry?

I can't say for sure, but somehow I get the feeling that some of the best entries probably didn't even make it to the top 16. I think in the next few years, we'll see more commercialisation of the festival, less originality, and more "big name" actors. Fortunately, from the content of other posts earlier in the thread, there will continue to be other quality short film festivals regularly showcasing the best of independent Australian short film making by showing quality short films without all the hoopla that now seems to go with Tropfest.

[imp]

Tropfest rocked very hard :D

I drank a wee bit too much but it's cool, I managed to keep my cool but only b/c I was sitting about 5 feet from 2 people I worked with. ;)

YAY the movies were great but bummer bout the rain. It set me running that's for sure and I missed the last few films.