Tropfest

Nearly 100,000 people made their way to The Domain in Sydney yesterday for the 2013 Tropfest Film Festival, and among them were some of Australia’s most recognisable stars of film and TV. Sam Worthington returned home to sit on a celebrity judging panel that included Rebecca Gibney, The Sapphires director Wayne Blair, Magda Szubanski and Rake star Richard Roxburgh, and he was the one who handed out the top prize at the world’s largest short film festival to filmmaker Nicholas Clifford for the short We’ve All Been There. Sam also created an award last night for best personality in a documentary, pledging $3,000 to 86-year-old Raymond Borzelli, the dancing, busking subject of Better Than Sinatra.

The 2013 Tropfest Film Festival marked the end of an era at The Domain, with Tropfest founder John Polson announcing the location will move to Centennial Park. And while the rain held out last night, to beat February’s seasonal climate the date for future festivals will be brought forward to December, with the next one being staged on Dec. 8 this year.

Tropfest founder John Polson had the help of celebrity pals Hugh Jackman and Rose Byrne at the launch of Tropfest New York on Saturday. The world’s largest short film festival, which originated in Sydney, has spread its wings to the US, and the weekend event featured eight hours of programming played in front of a crowd of more than 10,000 in NYC. Hugh played host while Rose was one of the judges; she was on a panel that also included Friends With Kids writer, director and actor Jennifer Westfeldt, and 30 Rock star Judah Friedlander. At the end of the day Hugh announced Josh Leake of Portland, Oregon, as the winner of the festival for his short film Emptys.

Australia's A-list leant their support to the Tropfest in Sydney last night. Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Toni Collette and Asher Keddie were joined by Geoffrey Rush, Josh Lawson and the Edgerton brothers at the short film festival held at The Royal Botanic Gardens. Proving they do relaxed Sunday glamour just as well as the red carpet, the leading ladies were all about pared-back palettes and low-fi ponytails. The key to nailing a similar look? Great skin.

Tropfest celebrated its 20th anniversary yesterday, and brought together a star-studded line-up of celebrity judges to mark the occasion. Oscar winners Geoffrey Rush, Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman were among those on the judging panel, as well as Golden Globe winner Toni Collette. Thousands of film fans packed The Domain in Sydney for the event in the afternoon, but by the time Lemonade Stand, directed by Alethea Jones from Melbourne, was announced as the short film festival’s winner, only hundreds were left after most bolted to avoid the pouring rain and storm. Alethea beat out 15 other finalists and received her prize from Cate and Geoffrey, saying, “I registered for Centrelink two weeks ago, so maybe, maybe I might get a job this year as a director. Maybe. Just one job will be awesome.” Last night’s wet weather has the event’s organisers considering a change of date in the future, but Tropfest founder John Polson was still surprised people stayed until the end: “In some ways it’s disappointing when this happens but it also reminds you how important this is, that even torrential rain isn’t going to stop Tropfest.”