Overview
- More than 35,000 people gathered at Centennial Park for the festival’s first edition since 2019 despite wet weather.
- Jury president Margot Robbie called Lianne Mackessy’s winning film Crescendo “pitch perfect.”
- Sixteen finalists were selected from more than 700 entries, judged by a panel including Sarah Snook, Taron Egerton and remote juror James Cameron.
- Jasper Sharpe’s We Don’t Take Breaks and Nicky Tyndale-Biscoe’s Silent Night placed second and third, earning $30,000 and $20,000 plus Sony camera packages.
- The revival launched Trop Jr, the Chery Filmmaker Challenge and Tropfest Runways, sending Mackessy and Benjamin Mathews to Los Angeles for G’Day USA and a studio-led industry immersion.