At a glance…
- Australia’s largest short film festival, Tropfest, is returning in 2026, “Bigger than ever”
- Margot Robbie is joining the festival as Jury President.
- The “TSI “Tropfest Signature Item, or TSI for the 2026 festival, is an hourglass.
- The 15 finalists are here and voting is open for the first-ever wildcard!
- Tropfest 2026 is happening on Sunday, 22 February 2026, in Centennial Park, Sydney.
After several quiet years, one of Australia’s most iconic cultural events is back for a much-anticipated sequel. Tropfest, the largest short film festival, will return ot Centennial Park, Sydney on Sunday 22 February 2026 with numerous events leading up to the festival online and in person. And it has announced who its Jury President will be: Margot Robbie!
“Tropfest has long been an important launchpad for filmmakers,” said the Academy Award-nominated actress and star of the upcoming film adaptation of Wuthering Heights. “It’s where creativity meets opportunity, and I’m incredibly excited to help celebrate and support the next wave of storytellers.”
Back in June, Tropfest founder John Polson also posted on his social media that “Australia’s most iconic brands are lining up to support our next chapter,” that chapter being “a new Tropfest Australia.”
He asked social media users to share their hopes and dreams for the next Tropfest and started with his own: “Diverse. Inclusive. National (with a heavy rural twist). And yes, global.”
Sounds exciting! Here’s what we know so far about the next chapter of Tropfest.
What is Tropfest?
Tropfest is the world’s largest short film festival, which launched the careers of many in the Australian film industry. Past finalists have gone on to Hollywood careers, and winning films have sparked cult followings.
As previously mentioned, it was founded in Sydney in 1993 by Australian actor and director John Polson. What began as a small screening for friends at the Tropicana Café (hence its name) in Darlinghurst quickly grew into a major international event. Ultimately, it attracted tens of thousands of film lovers each year.
More than just a film competition, the festival has been a launchpad for emerging talent, including actors, directors, and screenwriters.
When is the next Tropfest?
As mentioned, Tropfest will return to Centennial Park, Sydney, on Sunday, 22 February 2026. Filmmaker submissions are open from 1 December 2025.
Previously, the organisers have hinted that this year the festival will be going national. They posted a cryptic post about a “dream… To take Tropfest on the road.”
The post’s caption continued: “Semi-trailer, giant screen. A tour of country towns across Australia. Different town every night. Free (of course, because Tropfest). It’s not real… yet — but we’re working on it. Because Aussie stories belong in every corner of this great country.”
However, that may still be the dream. There was no mention of a national tour at the media launch. Despite that, YouTube is the festival’s “Powered by Partner” and in the lead-up to the event, there will be a Tropfest “Marathon going live on its YouTube channel from Friday, 5 September for two weeks, 24 hours a day, called “Trop ’til You Drop”.
Check out their YouTube channel here.
Stay tuned for more updates!
How does Tropfest work?
Each festival, Tropfest challenged filmmakers to create a short film of up to seven minutes, incorporating a Tropfest Signature Item (TSI). This TSI is a small but crucial detail that proves the film was made specifically for that year’s competition. Previous TSIs have included everything from a pineapple to a matchstick. The annual reveal is often a hotly anticipated moment.
The finalists’ films are screened in front of a live audience and a celebrity judging panel, with the winner taking home major industry prizes and national acclaim.
Submissions for the upcoming festival closed on 15 January 2026. 700 hopefuls submitted their short films, close to a record-breaking number for the festival.
Tropfest received submissions from across Australia and also from abroad with entries from Canada, China, Ethiopia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Italy, Japan, Lithuania, New Zealand, South Korea, Spain, the UK and the United States. Topfest organisers said that if any of the international entries are selected as finalists, they will fly the creators to Sydney for the festival!
The finalists will be announced in late January. There will be 15 finalists plus one Wildcard voted on via YouTube in early February.
CommBank Tropfest Emerging Filmmakers Fund has been established to fund the prize money for the festival. First, second and third place winners will receive $50,000, $30,000 and $20,000 in funding respectively. Google will also award the winners “premium technology bundles.”
What is the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI) in 2026?
The TSI for the next Tropfest is an hourglass.
Why has it been on hiatus?
After its last official event in 2019, Tropfest entered a period of dormancy due to financial challenges and changing industry landscapes.
Who are the finalists?
The 15 finalists have been revealed, whittled down from 700 entries. More than 50 per cent of the initial shortlist were directed by women!
In a Tropfest first, there will be an inaugural YouTube Tropfest Wildcard Competition. The public can vote for their favourite from the wildcard list to be the 16th finalist.
You can watch them all on the YouTube Channel.
Check out the 15 finalists below:
- Communicate – Dir. Frazier Brockett. Two detectives. One criminal. Twenty guesses. One turn.
- Crescendo – Dir. Lianne Mackessy. A new mother’s babysitting plans fall apart on the morning of an audition for a career-defining role.
- Eat Now Pay Later – Dir. Dimitri Ellerington. Somewhere in England, brave souls line up to take on this year’s chilli crop.
- Faker – Dir. Clare Sladden. When a woman suspects her boyfriend’s ex is faking cancer to win him back, she tries to hold onto the relationship.
- Gazers – Dir. Veialu Aila-Unsworth & Sze Lok Ho. A fairytale about three women of colour forced into absurd stereotypes by a magical curse infecting men — “the male gaze” — until one man’s transformation offers a different way of seeing.
- I’m Still Here – Dir. Catho D’Souza. To cope with the loss of her sister, Avanya impersonates her in an attempt to keep her spirit alive, becoming lost in the reality of who she truly is.
- No Thank You – Dir. Georgina Haig. After the heartbreak of another miscarriage, sculptor Daphne loses the ability to say ‘thank you’, and her world begins to crumble.
- Project Hourglass – Dir. Benjamin Mathews. When a man presumed dead reappears three years after leaping from a bridge, claiming involvement in a secret government program, his fiancée must decide whether to believe him — or get him help.
- Ring Around – Dir. Sisi Stringer. George races through a checklist of phone calls, but the humour collapses when his final conversation reveals the news he’s terrified to share.
- Silent Night – Dir. Nicky Tyndale-Biscoe. When ‘buses replace trains’ on Christmas Eve, a GP is stranded at a lonely bus exchange, her fading Christmas spirit put to the test.
- SYD CONFIDENTIAL – Dir. Clinton J. Isle. A private detective follows a trail of “clues” across Sydney, blurring reality and imagination in a playful noir comedy about the stories we cling to and the resilience to keep going.
- Tilly – Dir. Luke Mayze. A grieving widower, resistant to his late wife’s dog, slowly reconnects with the outside world through Tilly’s persistent companionship
- The End – Dir. Sean Bayles. Lost among the sands of time, a lone protagonist searches for a way out.
- Unprompted – Dir. Stephen Packer. A desperate horror screenwriter turns to AI for inspiration, only to realise it’s writing him into the role of the victim.
- We Don’t Take Breaks – Dir. Jasper Sharpe. A hospo worker narrates his daily grind under a relentless boss, until a deranged ex-employee returns and chaos unfolds.
Check out the Wildcard Entries:
- Vitae – Dir. Kyle Keuris. A middle-aged man interviews with a tech CEO for a junior role, but as hidden motives surface, the routine meeting turns into a tense reckoning the interviewer isn’t prepared for.
- One For The Money – Dir. Jimmy Eaton. Being late has never been this loopy.
- Extra Effort – Dir. Elissa Maine & Penny Buck. I’ve heard about it. Now you’re in the room. A short film about a moment that lives somewhere between fact, fear and folklore, passed around by women like an urban myth.
- Our Glass – Dir. Georgia Walters. In the aftermath of loss, a grandmother navigating grief is drawn back to life by the unfiltered honesty and playful chaos of her two young granddaughters.
- Shoot the Breeze – Dir. Scott Holgate. Jason is in a bind. His phone offers no answers. As his anxiety mounts, he reaches for connection.
- A Little Magic – Dir. Emma Carolina-Wolf. When dating has lost its spark, all you need is a little magic.
- Now I See – Dir. Liam Gordes. In his search for closure, Jack must bury his dead father’s secrets. Time is running out for him to be the perfect son.
- F**k Face – Dir. Tim Hamilton. During a casual game of Scattergories, four friends discover that the most dangerous thing in the room isn’t time, guns, or bad language- it’s how well they know each other.
- Blue Orchards – Dir. Taysha McFarland. In 1941, the Japanese Imperial Army advance throughout Malaya, challenging a dignified mother’s beliefs while protecting her young daughter from the horrors that are slowly befalling their country.
- One More for Safety – Dir. Kacey Baker. After a heart attack, a struggling filmmaker battles critics, rejection, and pride in a hospital ward where delusional filmmakers still believe they matter.
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