Tropfest

Tropfest has come a long way since 1993. It's gone from screening films on a blank wall in the Tropicana Café in Darlinghurst to hosting hundreds of thousands of short film fans in the Domain and around Australia. This year, the world's largest short film festival is celebrating its 20th birthday.

Entry is open to filmmakers around Australia and the globe, and for the first time ever Tropfest will fly international finalists to Sydney to walk the red carpet with all the local stars. Furthermore, thanks to a partnership with YouTube, entry is as simple as uploading your film to the internet.

Returning in 2011 is the Max Tropscore competition for budding film composers and well as the Telsta Mobile Masterpieces competition, which gives Spielbergs on a budget the chance at $5,000 and a trip to Sundance 2012 for a short film shot entirely on a mobile phone. Festival director John Polson sees it as an excellent chance for people who find the filmmaking process a little daunting: "If you've got an idea for a good story, get cracking - you don't need a fancy camera or state-of-the-art technology."

The festival brings some of the cinematic elite to Sydney as judges. Previously, big names like Geoffrey Rush, Samuel L Jackson, Keanu Reeves and Nicole Kidman have chosen the winners, which have included some of Australia's brightest new talents such as Nash Edgerton and Sam Worthington.

To ensure that each entry is made specifically for Tropfest the films must contain a signature item and this year it's 'LIGHT BULB'. So get ready to shine a light on a plethora of entertainment at Tropfest 2011. 

If you can't make it to the Domain then catch Movie Extra Tropfest 2011 live on Movie Extra on Sunday 19 February.