Going Troppo

Sorry folks been AWOL for a couple of days on la Blog. Hopefully I will have an explanation by next Wednesday evening.

Theme Thursday this week explores "Festival". Since it's winter here, apart from the rather wacky Winter Equinox festival in the Blue Mountains where we tree huggin' hippie druid types all pretend that we're Northern Europeans enjoying midwinter and celebrating Christmas in July and the soon to be celebrated Tulip Festival in Canberra, there's not much on the Festival scene in Oz.

In summer however, we're inundated with rock festivals, the Sydney Festival of course even the Gay and Lesbian Mardis Gras! Summer is our festive season and with the weather, damn good timing.

During the Sydney Festival there are free events in what's called the "Domain" a large green space in the centre of Sydney. On each of four weekends in January there is Opera in the Park, Symphony In the Park, Jazz In the Park. In February, a little treasure for would-be movie makers as young as 9 and as old as you like. You might remember a little Oscar Winner called Harvie Krumpet who started his claymation life as a short film.

This is a night of short films, projected on a big screen under the stars. Well sometimes it rains but nothing a plastic poncho can't protect against, even stops your brie going soggy and your chardy diluting.

Tropfest is Australia’s most prestigious short film festival, and is regarded as one of our most iconic cultural events and best of all, it's free. It is also the largest short film festival in the world.

Founded in 1993 by film director John Polson, the ‘Tropicana Short Film Festival’ started as an informal short film screening for cast, crew and friends at the Tropicana Cafe in Sydney’s uber artsy Darlinghurst. More than 200 people showed up. Inspired by the turn out, John decided that a fully-fledged short film festival was the next step.

Eighteen years on, Tropfest attracts a live national audience of more than 150,000 people on a single night. The event is hosted at Sydney’s Domain in the Royal Botanic Gardens, with live satellite links to outdoor locations in Melbourne, Canberra, Perth, Brisbane, Hobart, Adelaide and Surfer’s Paradise.

The annual short film competition is open to anyone who wishes to enter – regardless of his or her background or experience. Sixteen finalists are selected from an entry pool of an average 650 entries and compete for more than $200k in prizes. It's often the 'big break' for would-be film makers on the world stage.