Dark Comedy 'Granny Smith' Wins Tropfest 2014

Tropfest, the largest short film festival in the world, has wrapped up for another year. The annual event drew hundreds of punters to Sydney’s Centennial Parklands for its official screening and award ceremony last night, despite a brief rain delay. Victorian Julian Lucas took out top prize, beating out 15 other impressive finalists who put their hearts and souls into the films below.

Lucas’ film, Granny Smith, tells the story of a man who asks his housemate to make up an excuse for him to pull a sickie, but when the housemate takes things too far, things get out of hand. There’s even a cameo by Gold Logie-winner Steve Vizard, who plays the man’s sympathetic boss.

For his victory with Granny Smith, Lucas receives a new Toyota, $10,000 cash, a new camera and set of lenses, as well as a trip to LA for meetings with film executives.

NSW local Jackson Mullane came in second for his work Red Nuts, with fellow Sydneysider Stuart Bowen coming in third with his film, Twisted. Kevin McIsaac won this year’s Best Male Actor award for his role in Red Nuts, with Best Female Actress going to Caitlin Scrullin for her performance in A Lady & A Robot. Both were awarded $3,000 prizes donated by Nicole Kidman.

David and Michael Karacic’s short film, Untitled, took out the Nikon DSLR category. The film is shot as a public service announcement, with the focus on a man battling with depression. Melburnian Benjamin Huang won $5,000 for taking out this year’s APRA Tropscore prize.

John Polson, Tropfest Founder and Director, has said, “It’s been twenty two years since Tropfest first began and every year the films entered into the competition remind me of why I started this in the first place – to raise the profile of talented filmmakers and to share stories that, without this platform, might not otherwise be told.”

This year’s Tropfest judging panel consisted of Australian actor Kat Stewart (Offspring‘s Billy Proudman), Australian writer Marcus Zusak (The Book Thief, Hannibal), Battlestar Galactica producer and film director Michael Rymer, actor and writer of The Sapphires Tony Briggs, and iconic Aussie film critic Margaret Pomeranz.

This year’s Tropfest Signature Item (TSI), expected to be included in each film in some way, was a card.

The works created by 2014 Tropfest winners and finalists can be viewed in full, below. Finalists from this year’s TropJr competition can be viewed at the Tropfest YouTube page.

Tropfest 2014: First Place – Granny Smith (Julian Lucas)