TROPFEST 2017 : 25 YEARS STRONG

All images by Ben Apfelbaum (c). Featured image of Matt Day receiving his award. Among the onlookers are Rose Byrne and Will Gluck.

TROPFEST, in its 25th year, survived the heatwave that spread over the Sydney region on the weekend.

Matt Day was announced as this year’s winner with the Festival taking place at its new venue at Parramatta Park.

The winning film was  The Mother Situation  which tells the comedic story of three adult siblings who assist their terminally ill mother to commit suicide.

The 16 finalist films went head to head to take out the top prize, chosen by the impressive lineup of judges, which included Head of Jury, Rose Byrne (Bridesmaids, X-Men: Apocolypse, upcoming Peter Rabbit), George Miller (Academy Award Winner, Mad Max: Fury Road), Sam Neill (Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Jurassic Park, upcoming Peter Rabbit), Rachel Perkins (Bran New Dau,upcoming Jasper Jones), Bruna Papandrea (Gone Girl, Wild, TV’s upcoming Big Little Lies) and Will Gluck (Easy A, Friends with Benefits, upcoming Peter Rabbit).

Matt Day took home an incredible array of prizes which include $10,000 courtesy of Kennedy Miller Mitchell; a return trip to LA for meetings with industry professionals and networking, courtesy of The Motion Picture Association; a Hyundai Tuscon for a year; Western Sydney University Studio Prize Package valued at $12,500; a one year associate membership with the Australian Director’s Guild; a one year account with Getty Images; a $1,000 Westfield Parramatta voucher; $1,000 worth of Uber credit; and a one year pass to Event Cinemas Gold Class.  

Founder and Chair John Polson said, “It has been another incredible year of TROPFEST and it has been amazing to see audiences come and enjoy the event at our new home in Parramatta Park, despite the extreme heat. I am thrilled that this year half of our sixteen finalists are women and while all sixteen films were truly outstanding, The Mother Situation had the edge to take out the top prize.”

Second prize was awarded to Arielle Thomas and Ellenor Argyropoulos for their film Meat and Potatoes and third prize went to Daphne Do for Wibble Wobble. Arielle Thomas and Sacha Horler were announced as joint winners for best actress, with Edward Chalmers being named best actor for Wibble Wobble.

More than 1.6 million people have attended a TROPFEST event since it was established in 1993 by Founder and Chair, John Polson.

Succeeding this year’s signature item, the pineapple, in 2018 it will be the Rose, in honour of this year’s Head of Jury, Rose Byrne.

http://www.tropfest.org.au