This year was the first time I attended the Tropfest Short Film Festival - the world's largest of short film festival. I had accompanying me, my trusty film intern protege - Thuy Ng and newfound friend Quang Nguyen - who is currently a dedicated barrister, but possibly a future media maker. We had a good spot amongst the other 10,000 people on a patchy grass and in full view of the 3 sided screen. 
But then when you look at Tropfest, even though it has come a long way, it hasn't been the platform for films made by people from culturally diverse backgrounds even though 40% of the population are born overseas or to parents born overseas. Despite the films being quite "watchable", I still yet to see the day more films from the "other" make it to the top finalist on their own terms and telling the stories they want to tell and watch.
But that in itself is filled with complexities. In one lecture that I crashed at the Sydney International Film School, I recall Ray Lawrence saying that "filmmaking is for the privileged". To some extent, I agree, as the "privilege" have access to such equipment and vast knowledge, experience and expertise.
In addition, culturally diverse communities, are more often focused on making a living than storytelling through the digital medium. I know for a fact, that if I turned back time and asked my Vietnamese parents if I could do film, I'll probably be kung fu whacked across the head for the thought of it.
But the times are changing, and 2012 Tropfest Short Film Festival Signature item is the "lightbulb" so it looks like I may be submitting something next year....Perhaps.
This year, the 16 finalist that made it were quite good.
Here are the winners...
Hmm, I wouldn't bother with Tropfest, it can be a bit soul destroying. Especially when you're not culturally congruent with the privileged, who control what gets seen and what doesn't.
ReplyDeleteIf you look at something like Pizza, it achieved more success than any other australian TV series or movie in it's time and it still didn't receive any formal recognition by the media.
The only way to get that home recognition in the media is to attack their egos with either guilt or praise from overseas.
Samson & Delilah hit their guilt buttons, Wolf Creek hit their validation ones. If you take what works and discard what doesn't, button pushing will get you far.