Short film-festival Tropfest celebrates its 20th birthday this year. The Tropfest competition started in 1993 at Sydney's Tropicana Cafe, and has now grown into the world's biggest short-film festival.
'Increasingly each year, I'm stunned by the quality of films entered into Tropfest from people all over Australia and the world, many with budgets of just a few dollars,' Tropfest founder and director John Polson said.
Past judges of the festival include Nicole Kidman, Ewan McGregor and Geoffrey Rush. But judging is not left entirely to the industry heavyweights. For the second year in a row, Tropfest fans will be able to vote for the16th finalist via Tropfest's YouTube channel.
The 15 filmmakers the judges picked this year are an eclectic bunch and include the youngest ever finalist to make Tropfest. The 16-year-old star of the Foxtel hit series 'Tangled', Eva Lazzaro, will have to take a day off school to travel from Melbourne to Sydney for the screening.
The screening takes place on Sunday 19 February. An estimated 150,000 people are expected to tune in to watch it this year.
