Editor

The New York minute is being multiplied by seven as Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival lands on US shores with Tropfest New York. The stateside launch has secured support from film industry heavyweight “Ambassadors” Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, Nicole Kidman, Geoffrey Rush, Liev Schreiber, Anthony LaPaglia and Charles Randolph.

Tropfest New York City festivities are scheduled for June 2012. American filmmakers and audiences will take part in this global phenomenon and watch the talents of tomorrow compete to win top prizes, cudos and audience adulation. The announcement was made today by Tropfest Founder and Director John Polson. WNYC Radio was announced the first of the inaugural media partner.
Official Tropfest Ambassador, Hugh Jackman said: "Over the past 20 years, Tropfest has been an incredible platform for rising Australian filmmakers to get their start in the industry. I'm excited to support this competition as it comes to the US. There is no other springboard in the world that showcases short films in front of such a massive audience and I look forward to seeing the shorts for Tropfest New York."
Tropfest New York takes on the successful Tropfest format created in Australia, now celebrating a 20th birthday. The weekend of Tropfest activities is based around the short film competition and mass screening of finalist films. Musical performances, film screenings and a filmmaker symposium (‘Roughcut’) will culminate in the much-loved Tropfest finalist film screenings under the stars. The films will be judged live by a celebrity and industry panel.

Polson commented “We could not ask for bigger film industry stars and better inaugural partners to help us bring the world’s largest short film festival to the most exciting city in the world. With the passionate support of our Ambassadors and WNYC on board, combined with increasing North American interest from filmmakers and audiences via our online platforms, it’s obvious to us that the time is right.”
As always, Tropfest New York films must be no longer than seven minutes (including titles and credits); must be screened for the first time in public at Tropfest. Each film must contain the Tropfest Signature Item or TSI – a unique object to show the film was made for Tropfest. The New York TSI is iconically: “Bagel”.
Tropfest was founded by award-winning actor and director, John Polson, as a short film festival for friends and family at the Tropicana Café in Sydney, Australia. Today the festival is a world class platform renowned for supporting new film making talent and film maker initiatives.
On November 4th this year, the inaugural Tropfest Arabia took place in front of a capacity crowd of 12,000 people outdoors in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Submissions were received from 33 Middle Eastern and North African countries.
Tropfest has helped launch successful careers for dozens of directors, writers, actors and others. Tropfest alumni include: Sam Worthington (Avatar, Last Night); Joel Edgerton (Warrior, Animal Kingdom); Alister Grierson, the director of the James Cameron-produced Sanctum; and Tony Rogers whose Tropfest short, Wilfred was the origin of the U.S. TV series of the same name starring Elijah Wood. Wilfred is currently achieving record ratings for the FX Network.
The Tropfest YouTube Channel has had over 10 million video views with around 40% of views coming from the United States. The site provides film enthusiasts from around the world the chance to watch the top films from past festivals at: http://www.youtube.com/tropfest.

Visit www.tropfest.com for festival details, screening venues and regular updates on all things Trop!