Lights, Camera, Tropfest: The World’s Largest Short Film Festival Is Back

Since Tropfest last ran in 2019, we’ve been through a lot. The global pandemic, the AI boom and Taylor Swift getting engaged.

Now, after a long hiatus, it’s back.

“It’s been my dream for six long years to bring Tropfest back,” said founder John Polson said in a statement. “Now, thanks to some key players, we’re able to put the event right back where it belongs, in the heart of Sydney and in the hearts of Australians everywhere.”

Those key players are businessmen Peter V’landys and Richard Weinburg, along with Sarah Murdoch and actor-producer Bryan Brown, who formed the not-for-profit Tropfest Foundation. The foursome asked Polson to return from New York (where he works as an actor and producer) to run the festival.

The foundation and Polson are motivated by a single purpose: to nurture and inspire the next generation of homegrown creatives. “Our number one priority is to give Australia’s most talented, emerging filmmakers a level playing field, and get them out making films for this unique event. This could be your shot, and we can’t wait to see how you run with [it],” Polson said.

Tropfest 2026 is open to creators at any level, whether they’re using professional gear and trained actors or pointing a smartphone at a reluctantly roped-in brother. The brief is simple: films must be no longer than seven minutes, must be making their debut at Tropfest, and must include the “Tropfest Signature Item” (TSI) – a specific object or action that’s unique every year. Past TSIs have included umbrellas, pickles and kisses. This year, it’s an hourglass.

There’s a $100,000 prize pool. First prize will score $50,000, while second and third prizes will be awarded $30,000 and $20,000 respectively.

And those prizes? They’ll be awarded by none other than Jury President Margot Robbie, who’s filling a role previously held by the likes of Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman. 

“Tropfest has long been an important launchpad for filmmakers,” Robbie said in a statement. “It’s where creativity meets opportunity, and I’m incredibly excited to help celebrate and support the next wave of storytellers.”

Submissions open on the December 1, 2025, and the 16 finalist films will debut at the festival’s opening night at Centennial Park on February 22, 2026.

The festival started by accident in 1993, when Polson held a 200-person screening at the Tropicana Caffe in Darlinghurst, Sydney. The Tropicana Short Film Festival became Tropfest, which moved outdoors, eventually drawing crowds of up to 100,000 people, who would come – picnic blankets in hand – to Centennial Park, The Domain and Parramatta Park.

The festival has been an incubator for local talent. Tropfest alumni include Sam Worthington, Rebel Wilson, Patrick Brammall, Harriet Dyer, Mia Wasikowska, David Wenham and the full set of Edgertons – both Nash and Joel. Judges have included Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett, Samuel L Jackson, Baz Luhrmann, Mel Gibson, Simon Baker and Keanu Reeves.

The festival was cancelled in 2015 due to alleged financial mismanagement by Polson’s former business partner Michael Laverty. It was then revived two months later thanks to new sponsors. It ran until 2019, before taking an indefinite hiatus.

“What’s different [about this new version of Tropfest] is we’re focused on a year-round support system for emerging filmmakers. So yes, it’s a big event in February and that’s the jewel in the crown, but the rest of the year we’re really working to make sure there’s an ecosystem that helps emerging filmmakers,” Polson tells Broadsheet. “We’re working on scholarship programs, we’re working on Trop Jr … It’s no longer this February splash that just goes away, it’s really about a year-round thing.”

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