Press release from Tropfest
A silent disco has been added to Movie Extra Tropfest’s line-up of free entertainment, which also includes performances by Aussie rock royalty Baby Animals, pop singer Jonathon Boulet, a make your own flip book tent, roaming photo booths, bucket loads of free things to take home, and of course world class short films on Sunday 20 February in Sydney’s Domain.
Bring your picnic blanket and settle in from around 3pm, with local DJs tearing up tracks for early arrivals and a live performance at 5pm by Sydney’s newest prince of pop, Jonathon Boulet.
The Movie Extra all access tent is the place for everything Movies! Get some hot popcorn, throw the MOVIE EXTRA Tropfest giant key and WIN, get your photo taken in the Movie Extra photo booth. There will also be a large LED screen playing Movie Extra programs including a sneak peak of The Jesters Season 2.
The popular Jameson Bar returns for another year and festival-goers can try their luck on the digital clapper board for a chance to win a comfy inflatable chair.
YouTube are vox-popping festival-goers who’ll be uploaded to the site, and film fans can step behind a camera with YouTube’s Pix2Flix to make short video clips that will be turn into a flip book.
Music Max are hosting a silent disco in an inflatable tent with 100 plus headphones and two DJs set to different channels. And team Telstra is getting busy capturing snap shots of festival-goers to be printed out and taken home.
Film and television fans can watch their favourite stars walk the Tropfest VIP Purple Carpet from 6:20pm with exciting interviews and one-on-one-chats – hosted by Chris Taylor and Craig Reucassel from The Chasers and Lizzy Lovett and James Tobin for the live Movie Extra broadcast. And Tropfest hosts, comedy duo Adam Spencer and Julia Zemiro, take to the stage at 7:30pm to deliver official proceedings, when all the film fun begins.
Finalist films begin screening from 8pm, with a 20-minute break before the second half which starts at 9:10pm. At 10pm a mystery panel of celebrity judges decides on the winners along with Festival Director & Founder John Polson and last year’s Movie Extra Tropfest winner, Abe Forsythe.
At 10:15pm Australia finds out who the winners are! And 2012 hopefuls are told of the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI) for Tropfest’s 20th year – a defining year for the world’s largest short film festival.
Closing the festival, 90’s rock legends the Baby Animals hit the stage at 10:40pm led by the powerful front woman Suze DeMarchi, belting out a few of the country’s favourite songs – “Early Warning”, “Rush You” and “Painless”.
Festival Director and Founder, John Polson, says Tropfest is growing year on year to become a true festival experience. “We’re all here for the short films, of course, but we’re also injecting the festival with exciting activities and events to give film lovers something fun, engaging and different to discover in the lead up to the Finalist screenings. Each year, more and more people arrive early, so we’re making sure they have lots of great stuff to do throughout the day and night” he says.
The 16 finalist films are screened live from 8pm AEDT to an anticipated audience of 150,000 at free outdoor public events across Australia, and televised live on Subscription TV channel Movie Extra to an additional audience in excess of 235,000.
Tropfest is a phenomenal launch pad for young and emerging filmmakers, and there are some great prizes up for grabs, aside from the kudos of winning the world’s largest short film festival. The Finalists of Movie Extra Tropfest compete for a massive prize pool of $100k in cash and prizes, including a Canon XF305 digital camera (RRP $10,499). Visit www.tropfest.com for more information.