Tropfest, the largest short film competition and festival in the world, calls on Southeast Asian filmmakers to compete and submit their short films for its inaugural run in the region to be held at Penang, Malaysia on Jan. 25, 2014.
Deadline for submission is on Oct. 28. There’s an entry fee of 50 Malaysian Ringgit per film. But the fee for the shorts submitted on or before Oct. 8 will be waived.
Filmmakers must upload their works online and the application form must be filled out at Tropfest SEA’s website, www.tropfest.com/sea.
An entry shall be under seven minutes and must include the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI). The TSI for the inaugural Tropfest SEA is “rice.”
The top winner will be rewarded with US$10,000 cash prize and a five-day industry immersion in Los Angeles. The Motion Picture Association will sponsor the immersion.
Meanwhile, the second and third placers will get an all-expense-paid trip to next year’s Tropfest Australia and Tropfest Arabia, respectively.
The competition is open to residents and citizens of Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
On Sept. 5 and 6, Tropfest SEA managing sirector Joe Sidek visited the University of the Philippines-Diliman and International School Manila to encourage Filipino filmmakers to join the festival.
Own platform
“There were SEA films that joined the previous Tropfests but no one has won. That’s why I want to keep it for SEA,” Sidek said. “And for a start, I want the people from the region to have their own platform.”
Initiated by John Polson at a small café in Sydney, Australia in the early ’90s, Tropfest has gained wide success over the years and has extended to various parts of the world like the United States, Arabia, and New Zealand.
Tropfest has also garnered support from big names in the film industry. Its previous judges include celebrated artists such as Nicole Kidman, Baz Luhrman, Cate Blanchett, Russel Crowe, Keanu Reeves.
Visit www.tropfest.com/ sea.
