Generally, I don't complain if there are too many arts events going on in Sydney, but surely, havent we now got enough film festivals now?
A couple of weeks ago was the big one - Tropfest - a short film festival held in the beautiful Domain in between Martin Place and the NSW Arts Gallery.
The Domain is a beautiful venue, complete with a fence of fig trees and the skyline behind. Bats fly over as thousands sit on picnic rugs with champagne aloft as they watch the selection of short films.
Tropfest started at a small cafe in Darlinghurst called the Tropicana Cafe. Hence the name 'Trop Fest'. It was a wonderful way to protest the conservative film selections broadcast on television and the showings at the Sydney Film Festival.
A few years later, and there are enough film festivals to fill your social calendar for a year...
A couple of weeks ago was the big one - Tropfest - a short film festival held in the beautiful Domain in between Martin Place and the NSW Arts Gallery.
The Domain is a beautiful venue, complete with a fence of fig trees and the skyline behind. Bats fly over as thousands sit on picnic rugs with champagne aloft as they watch the selection of short films.
Tropfest started at a small cafe in Darlinghurst called the Tropicana Cafe. Hence the name 'Trop Fest'. It was a wonderful way to protest the conservative film selections broadcast on television and the showings at the Sydney Film Festival.
A few years later, and there are enough film festivals to fill your social calendar for a year...
Sydney Film Festival, Tropfest, Flickerfest, Queerscreen, Greek Film Festival, Serbian Film Festival, South American Film Festival, French Film Festival, Spanish Film Festival, Arab Film Festival, South Asia Pacific Film Festival, Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival, Mardi Gras Film Festival, Sydney Travelling Film Festival, Sydney Seniors Film Festival, Eco Environmental Sustainability Film Festival, Indian Film Festival, German Film Festival, African Film Festival, Short Film Festival, Silent Film Festival, Sydney Fringe Comedy Art & Film Festival, Italian Film Festival, Bondi Short Film Festival, Women on Women International Film Festival, International Animation Festival, Eyescreen Short Horror Film Festival and Science Film Festival... to name just a few.
It represents a truly amazing diversity of Sydney's multicultural society. But sponsors, audiences and film makers must be goggled eyed by now.
Which film festival are you talking about again?
The even sadder thing is that most festivals pay very little money to film makers for the showing of their films. A hit film on the international film circuit can travel for months, with broad audience appeal and not even get close to recouping of costs. Not that that is the role of a festival, but it is a sad state of affairs for small film makers non-the-less.
1 comments:
Ha! Here in Melbourne, I can't get enough of 'em. I maintain a film calendar so I can fit them in, but they screen so many films in such a short time, that I miss many films I'd like to see.
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