Tropfest is returning to its spiritual home next year, Sydney’s Domain, and is being backed by the NSW Government and blue chip brands including the Commonwealth Bank, YouTube, Qantas, Nine, Chery, Pandora and Fraser Suites.
The famous short film festival, which relaunched this year after a seven-year hiatus, has received $2.7 million in funding by the government over three years.
At the launch of next year’s Tropfest in Sydney on Friday, Tropfest and Aussie actor John Polson announced the festival would move back to the Domain, after this year running in Centennial Park, and that it had attracted more than 700 films in 2026.
“It was an incredible night and I’m sure many of you were there. Since then, Tropfest films have been reaching audiences around the world on YouTube in the past year alone, the channel has had almost 256,000 subscribers and over 3 million watch hours,” he said.
“What’s interesting to me is about 95 per cent of those views come from outside of Australia. This is an extraordinary international audience for our local filmmakers.
“What stayed with me most since February isn’t the numbers. It’s simply the feeling of being back in the crowd, shoulder to shoulder with people who love stories and love supporting emerging, mostly unknown, filmmakers.”
At the launch, Polson was joined by Tropfest Foundation chair Sarah Murdoch, board members Peter V’landys and Bryan Brown, Mad Max director George Miller and NSW Premier Chris Minns, who joked that the board were so effective in getting the festival up and running that he might lean on them to work on the Sydney Metro project.
“Australia doesn’t want generic global content as their only source of entertainment,” Minns said.
“We need Australian stories. We need Australian accents, and we need it told by Australian artists who soak up the lives, the community, the experience in our city and our country today.
“We can’t expect the next Baz Luhrmann, Rachel Perkins, or George Miller to arrive on set fully formed. They need opportunities. They need mentors, and most importantly, they need an audience.”
This year, 35,000 people attended Tropfest at Centennial Park. One of the attendees was Commonwealth Bank GM of brand, partnerships, creative and content, Dianne Everett.
She told B&T that she found Tropfest particularly moving, especially the winning entry Crescendo (see video above), a short film drama directed by Sydney filmmaker Lianne Mackessy. CommBank is putting up a $100,000 prize money pool for Tropfest winners each year until 2028.
“For us, it’s always been about representing communities and the people in the communities doing great things going on to achieve their dreams and helping give them the backing or the leg up that might be needed,” Everett said.
“The fact that 35,000 people showed up to the event, even though it was raining that evening. The fact that millions of people streamed the content told us we were onto a good thing, and the fact that we were able to move so many emotions by watching that filmmaking talent be out there on stage in seven short minutes was amazing.
“So we learnt that this is not done yet, and there is so much more to come from Australian filmmaking talent. Commbank is so happy to be behind this event.”
YouTube is another brand that supports Tropfest, and its platform has become a vital distribution channel for Tropfest filmmakers.
Google Australia and New Zealand chief marketing officer Suzana Ristevski told B&T the Tropfest partnership was a win-win.
“YouTube is really all about democratising the ability for any of our creators to start something, and Tropfest is like such an extraordinary opportunity for filmmakers that may not necessarily get the opportunity to show their work, so it was a beautiful link for us,” she said.
“We’re all about connecting creators with audiences. Tropfest is all about connecting filmmakers with audiences. So just put the two together and give them the opportunity to shine.”
Another industry luminary who was at the launch is former Nine chief marketing officer Liana Dubois.
She is now the managing director of Entertainment Partners, which provides accounting and finance tools specifically for the feature film industry.
Having worked in senior roles at media companies for 25 years, Dubois understands the importance of Australian storytelling better than most.
“In terms of the cultural and broader community impact, and also the impact on the next generation film and television makers for this country, Tropfest is incredibly important,” she told B&T
“Australian storytelling is alive and well, and what Tropfest does brilliantly is it enables these stories to be exported to the world. Anybody with a great idea and the grit to want to get it made has the opportunity with not much more than a smartphone in their hands to turn their idea into a story. For youngsters growing up that want to be filmmakers or storytellers, it is an absolutely amazing platform.”
One filmmaker who has benefitted from Tropfest is this year’s winner Mackessy. Winning this year’s festival has provided access to people, including a US manager, that were not previously possible.
“It’s quite exceptional,” she told B&T about the impact Tropfest has had on her career.
“The visibility that it’s given me, it’s opened doors to opportunities that I wouldn’t necessarily have had access to before. I’m so lucky to have had mentorship, and with the support from Commbank, it has just really given me time to be able to create my next project.”
Most of Mackessy’s projects have been self-funded, and the support she received from winning Tropfest has given her the time and space to work on her own longer-term projects.
“Funding is a big challenge for filmmakers,” she said. “I’ve got a US manager now off the back of Trotfest, so I’m just creating my own projects. I’m just in my little writing room writing at the moment, so hopefully I’ll get some long-term projects up.
Tropfest takes place at sundown on Saturday, 13 February at The Domain.
