Tropfest

A week and a half ago, Heather and I went to Tropfest with her coworker Klaus. Tropfest, "The World's Largest Short Film Festival" (please note 'world', as opposed to 'in the Southern Hemisphere'), is an annual event in Australia. There are three rules for Tropfest entries:

1. The film must be no longer than seven minutes.
2. The film must debut at Tropfest.
3. The film must include the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI). This year's TSI was 'sneeze'.

At the festival, the sixteen finalists were screened. Some were pretty good, some were not. Most were live action, a few were animated, and all sorts of genres were present. Thousands of people were there to watch the films, and there were simultaneous screenings in five other cities as well.
The winner was 'An Imaginary Life', an animated piece. It is the story of an imaginary friend whose real friend has grown up and no longer believes in him. It has been scrutinized since winning, however. According to this article, it bears a striking resemblance to the American Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends. Haven't seen this myself. Anyone know anything about it?
My favourite film was 'Between the Flags', a comedy based on the Cronulla Riots from December 2005. The premise is two guys unknowingly show up for the riots at the wrong beach. While waiting for their friends to show, the would be rioters strike up a friendship.
The reason I waited until now to post this was I was hoping some of the films would show up on YouTube. The Sydney Morning Herald this past Saturday included a DVD of the sixteen finalists, but none of the finalists from this year have shown up on YouTube yet. However, I have for you here the 2006 winner, 'CARMICHAEL and shane'. The TSI for 2006 was 'bubble'.


The TSI for 2008 will be the number 'seven'. Let the filming begin.