Tropfest

Sunday the 22nd (yeah, we’ve gone back in time a bit here) was Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival. We’re not sure if this was in terms of entries or competitors, but either way it was a great day! We met up early with the other exchange students and headed over to the Domain (a big park) in the early afternoon to grab some lawn. The pictures below pretty much sum up the day. Lounging, munching and living it up like the Aussies do best- chillin’.

Once the sun set, the movie screenings began. Each short film was limited to 7 minutes and had to include the year’s theme, spring, in some way or another. This meant a number of the 16 finalists had surprise endings that were “sprung” on the audience. The evening was also scattered with a couple live performances and air guitar competitions.

The winning film was called “Be My Brother” and used a light-hearted approach to addressing prejudice of those with mental disabilities. The main character was played by a man with down syndrome who was needless to say incredibly excited when he went up to receive his awards (also winning best actor). If you’re super keen on learning more about the film festival (there’s a New York version as well) you can check out the following link: http://www.tropfest.com/



Hanging out in the sun awaiting the official Tropfest movie showings to start. Note the number of umbrellas- contrary to what many people think, Aussies are actually very responsible about their sun exposure. There's a very big "stay out of the sun" campaign by the government, and locals are diligent about wearing sunscreen and hats.


The movie screen and the surrounding crowd. The stage was multi-sided with thousands of people sitting in front of each of the 3 screens.

View of downtown at night