Tropfest founders start $100,000 crowd-funding campaign to find ‘sustainable business model’
The founders of troubled short film festival Tropfest have taken to crowd-funding site Pozible to raise $100,000 to undertake a review to find a “sustainable business model” for the free event.
Founder John Polson was forced to pull the plug on the world’s largest short film festival last November just a month before it was set to take place in Sydney, after the company contracted to run it ran into financial difficulties.
However sponsor CGU Insurance stepped in to cover the extra costs of the event, which has been rescheduled for Sunday February 14.
So Polson has raised $280 with a target of $100.000.
Maybe all these reviews will suggest getting a replacement for him
Once it allowed mediocre movies from people in the film industry to win that’s when it went to garbage. The winner of the 2011 one (Damon Gameau) was pure nonsense and other ones deserved to win. Certainly turned me off short movies.
If Polson can’t put his cap in hand and get some of his mates to cover 100K, there is no way the general public should be paying up.
Sell the Tropfest IP to someone who will run it properly and hopefully promote Australian film makers more effectively.
I entered a few years back, a David Fincher-esk moody film with an intelligent and emotional script about the triumphant battle of two parents securing treatment for their autistic son, was dramatic and light without being heavily morbid, script attracted an Ozy tv a-lister…didn’t even make Tropfest finalist… when I saw what did make finalist I knew that Tropfest had become a bipolar joke in its selection process, Cats & Dogs cut outs with someone yelling Cats & Dogs into a microphone.
No Thanks Tropfest, my money is better invested in myself than cardboard cut outs.