Tropfest 2015 Cancelled From “Irresponsible Mismanagement Of Funds”

Tropfest 2015 Cancelled From “Irresponsible Mismanagement Of Funds”
Emma Mackenzie
By Emma Mackenzie



Short-film festival Tropfest has been cancelled this year with reasoning being a “terrible and irresponsible mismanagement of funds”.

The full statement from Tropfest was posted on its Facebook page, with founder and director John Polson expressing his devastation.

“It is devastating for me to announce today that Tropfest will not be taking place as scheduled in Centennial Park this year,” he said.

“In the past week or so, I have been made aware that the company contracted to raise the funding and administer the Tropfest event is unable to move forward for financial reasons. Despite a challenging sponsorship climate, Tropfest has done reasonably well in attracting support this year; however, to my great surprise, the management company has informed us that it is unable to proceed.”

While still figuring out exactly what happened Polson said it was “hard to avoid concluding there has been a terrible and irresponsible mismanagement of Tropfest funds”.

Read his full statement below.

[fb_embed_post href=”https://www.facebook.com/tropfest/posts/973324956047111/” width=”550″/]

Tropfest had been scheduled to air on SBS 2. The short film-festival attracts hundreds of entries each year.

In an exclusive piece with the Sydney Morning Herald, Polson questions whether Tropfest will be able to come back, adding he has felt numb about everything that’s happened.

“It’s like being in a bad dream,” he told the SMH. “This is 23 years of work. It’s a stunning, shocking blow, with really no hint of what was to come.”

Last year’s event saw Saatchi & Saatchi’s business manager make the finals, along with digital agency Lash Creative launching an international site for the festival.

B&T has contacted Tropfest for further comment.




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