The line up of directors includes a actors, comedians, IF Award winners, second generation filmmakers and the youngest ever Tropfest finalist.

Tropfest is also opening the voting up to the audience to select a 16th film through Youtube.

Tropfest founder and director John Polson said: “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. Last year the quality was so strong, we let our audience decide on the 16th film for the first time, so we’re incredibly excited to be bringing our YouTube competition back this year. I want to congratulate all our filmmakers, and I want to thank our supporters for once again enabling Tropfest to take place FREE for the Australian – and now New Zealand – public – in particular our biggest partner, Movie Extra.”

Finalists compete for cash, equipment and international travel valued at around $100,000.

List of the Tropfest finalists
Title: Lemonade Stand
Director: Alethea Jones
State: VIC
Synopsis: Benny and Granddad are best friends and never leave each other’s side. They also run the most successful light-refreshment stand in town. Yet all could change when an old neighbour decides to get in the way. Lemonade Stand is a story of mateship, courage and a little hint of magic.

Title: Alice’s Baby
Director: Eva Lazarro
State: VIC
Synopsis: Alice’s family is trapped in a deep state of sadness. Her mother has lost a baby and everything has become discordant. While everyone sleeps, Alice tries to replace what is missing.

Title: Boo
Director: Rupert Reid
State: NSW
Synopsis: Ma and Pa have been married forever and they keep the magic alive is by staying one step ahead of each other but how many steps are too many?

Title: How Many More Doctors does it take to Change a Light Bulb?
Director: Marie Patane
State: NSW
Synopsis: A big night out ends in a nightmare for one man at a local medical centre. Craig finds himself in an awkward situation after a night out with the boys and heads to his local medical centre for help where the renowned Dr Rob is on call. Will Craig make it out unscathed?

Title: I’m Free To Be Me
Director: Trent Holmes & Bassett Dickson
State: QLD
Synopsis: Thomas Franklin is a story of self-redemption. He is trying to change the world – one smile at a time. After a close brush with death some years ago, this beautiful human is taking his God given right to boogie to the streets…and inspiring all that see him.

Title: Jack and Lily
Director: Damian McLindon
State: VIC
Synopsis: Jack would rather play an imaginary game of war on his own then hangout with his neighbour Lily… until a surprise attack changes everything.

Title: Kitchen Sink Drama
Director: Nicholas Clifford
State: VIC
Synopsis: Aaron is going to propose to Stacey but in doing so discovers that by playing a joke beforehand he may have ruined the entire relationship.

Title: Matchbox Brothers
Director: Scott Holgate & Brent Holgate
State: ACT
Synopsis: Two brothers and one matchbox car.

Title: Min Min
Director: Matt Bird
State: NSW
Synopsis: Trapped in a remote valley of the Blue Mountains and unable to find her sister, Celeste takes refuge inside her tent as a mysterious light in the forest terrorises her.

Title: My Constellation
Director: Toby Morris
State: NSW
Synopsis: A young boy leaves home and embarks on an epic adventure, leaving a trail of lightbulbs everywhere he goes…

Title: One Thing
Director: Matilda Brown
State: NSW
Synopsis: I asked a variety of Australian’s one question: if you could tell the world ONE THING what would it be?
Here are their answers.

Title: Photo Booth
Director: Michael Noonan
State: QLD
Synopsis: In a barren, war-torn landscape, three soldiers come across an abandoned photo booth. They approach it with trepidation and suspicion but soon realise it has something to offer each of them: happy memories, forgotten tensions and the terrifying, unpredictable consequences of war.

Title: RGB
Director: Kailas Prasannan
State: VIC
Synopsis: A young man suffering from ‘total colour-blindness’ agrees to test experimental drugs which would enable him to see colour for the first time in his life. However, the drugs target only three colours: Red, Green and Blue, thus, enabling him to see only one colour at a time.

Title: The Mistake
Director: Bryan Moses
State: NSW
Synopsis: The morning after a big night, a girl does everything she can to quietly escape the regrettable one-night stand asleep next to her.

Title: The Unusual Suspects
Director: Steve Mitchell
State: VIC
Synopsis: Two inspectors interrogate an entertainer, who they suspect has some dark secrets. Determined to find the truth, they delve into a maze of possibilities where, in reality, there is only one. Will they get to the truth and force a confession? Sometimes the answer is staring you in the face.

http://www.youtube.com/tropfest

Travel grants up to $2,500 are available to producers with advanced projects to attend the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Frames Convention in Mumbai, 14-16 March.

Producers of TV, animation, documentary, digital and mobile content creators seeking to expand relationships in India for potential co-productions, investment and sales opportunities can apply.

Preference will be given to applicants with at least one project in advanced development suitable for this market. They will also need to provide a strong market strategy outlining their argument for attendance, desired outcomes and an understanding of the market.

Deadline for the FICCI Frames applications is Friday 10 February.

The feature film Save Your Legs, starring Brendan Cowell, Stephan Curry and Damon Gameau, directed by Boyd Hicklin is currently in production in India.

Produced by Matchbox Pictures, producers of last year’s success The Slap, The Straits movie length premiere averaged 599,000, peaking at 696,000 viewers last night, according to preliminary ratings by Oztam.

Matchbox Pictures’ creative director Penny Chapman spoke to Encore in January: “It’s the violence and the black humour that is going to make this pretty special. I’ve not made a show like this – maybe blue murder but the Straits’ humour is quite enjoyable. Young men respond to it strongly. It’s a real blokes show. And for the ABC that’s great because young men don’t watch the ABC.”

The Straits is based on an idea by Aaron Fa’aoso which has been developed by a team of writers, including: AFI winning Louis Nowra (Cosi, K-19: The Widowmaker, Radiance); Blake Ayshford (Crownies, All Saints); AFI nominated Nick Parsons (Two Twisted, Dead Heart); Kristen Dunphy (East West 101, White Collar Blue); and Jaime Browne (The King, The Secret Life of Us). The series is directed by Peter Andrikidis, Rachel Ward and Rowan Woods.

The Slap debuted at 946,000 for the ABC in October last year and regularly pulled close to 1m metro viewers a week in the Thursday 8:30pm timeslot.

Led by Alastair Stephen executive producer commercials, the Sydney studio has a team of VFX artists, designers, colourists and producers including head of 3D and CG Jonathan Dearing, design director Finn Spencer, VFX designer Kent Smith, senior producer Simone Crow and colourists Marcus Timpson and Dwaine Hyde.

Operating from the Iloura studio is Boffswana which focuses on experiential, interactive and augmented reality solutions for brands.

Iloura is owned by OmniLab Media.

Starring Naomi Watts and fellow Australian Xavier Samuel, as well as Robin Wright and James Frecheville the film is a collaboration between producer Andrew Mason of Hopscotch Features and French producer Phillipe Carcassonne (The Illusionist, Coco avant Chanel) with Anne Fontaine (Coco avant Chanel) directing.

The film will be Fontaine’s English-language directorial debut with he script is adapted from Doris Lessing’s novel of the same name by Oscar winning Christopher Hampton (Dangerous Liaisons, Atonement).

The eight-week shoot is scheduled to take place around Sydney with a ScreenNSW investment of $3.3m, expected to stimulate $57.8m of spend in the state and create more than 3,300 jobs for cast, crew and extras.

The Grandmothers is the first from Hopscotch’s production arm and anticipated for a 2013 release.

During the AACTA Awards, A Few Best Men director Stephan Elliott attacked The Age’s Jim Schembri over the critic’s review of the film, accusing Schembri of personal attacks. The attack was removed from Nine’s broadcast of the show.

Schembri on behalf of himself and The Age told Encore: “We respect Stephan Elliott’s right to bite back at negative reviews. However, we never engage in personal attacks in film reviews and cannot see how referring to him as ‘having proved himself worthy of so much better’ constitutes one.

“Also, journalists must never feel any obligation whatsoever to “support” Australian films, only good ones. Stephan Elliott showed with Easy Virtue how talented and accomplished a director he is, and we look forward very much to his next film.”

Schembri went on to congratulate the production for marketing the film well, something the critic felt Australian films lacked.

“Despite what we thought of A Few Best Men, we applaud how well-marketed the film was. Poor marketing has dogged the Australian film industry for far too long and it was heartening to see such a critical issue being taken seriously.”

A Few Best Men’s opening weekend is the highest grossing opener of the past 12 months, surpassing Red Dog’s $1.8m, to take $1.9m.

The incident on Tuesday night was not the first time Schembri has been on the receiving end of an awards-night attack. At the 2008 AFI Awards Jimmy Jack, writer of feature film The Black Balloon read Schembri’s review of the film as he accepted the award for best original screenplay before saying “Fuck You Jim Schembri.” That was also removed from Nine’s broadcast of the show.

The AACTA ceremony, delivered minus a host, saw box office champion Red Dog take home the best film award but the biggest success of the night was dark drama Snowtown which bagged four awards including best adapted screenplay and best direction.

The full list of AACTA award winners:

TELEVISION

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST YOUNG ACTOR

•    Lara Robinson. Cloudstreet – Part 1. FOXTEL – Showcase

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST TELEVISION DRAMA SERIES

•    East West 101, Season 3 – The Heroes’ Journey. Steve Knapman, Kris Wyld. SBS

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST TELEFEATURE, MINI SERIES OR SHORT RUN SERIES

•    The Slap. Tony Ayres, Helen Bowden, Michael McMahon. ABC1

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LIGHT ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION SERIES

•    The Gruen Transfer, Series 4. Andrew Denton, Anita Jacoby, Jon Casimir. ABC1

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION IN TELEVISION

•    The Slap – Episode 3 ‘Harry’. Matthew Saville. ABC1

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SCREENPLAY IN TELEVISION

•    The Slap – Episode 3 ‘Harry’. Brendan Cowell. ABC1

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA

•    Alex Dimitriades. The Slap. ABC1

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA

•    Sarah Snook. Sisters Of War. ABC1

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTOR IN A TELEVISION DRAMA

•    Richard Cawthorne. Killing Time – Episode 2. FOXTEL – TV1

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST GUEST OR SUPPORTING ACTRESS IN A TELEVISION DRAMA

•    Diana Glenn. The Slap – Episode 3 ‘Harry’. ABC1

SWITCHED ON AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD FOR BEST TELEVISION PROGRAM

•    Packed To The Rafters. Seven Network

SWITCHED ON AUDIENCE CHOICE AWARD FOR BEST PERFORMANCE IN A TELEVISION DRAMA

•    Asher Keddie. Paper Giants: The Birth Of Cleo. ABC1

FEATURE FILM

SAMSUNG AACTA AWARD FOR BEST FILM

•    RED DOG. Nelson Woss, Julie Ryan.

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST DIRECTION

•    Snowtown. Justin Kurzel.

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

•    Griff The Invisible. Leon Ford.

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

•    Snowtown. Shaun Grant.

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTOR

•    Daniel Henshall. Snowtown.

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST LEAD ACTRESS

•    Judy Davis. The Eye Of The Storm.

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

•    Hugo Weaving. Oranges And Sunshine.

AACTA AWARD FOR BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

•    Louise Harris. Snowtown.

Australian production company New Holland Pictures’ Mark and Cathy Overett have co-producing credits for the film which is an Australian/Finnish/German co-production.

The film is produced by is Blind Spot Pictures, Energia Productions with Germany’s 27 Films also taking co-producing credits.

Principal photography took place in Germany in November-December 2010 and in Australia in January-February 2011.

Screening in the Panorama program, it’s the only Australian film to selected for the festival.

The film has raised funds through crowd-funding, following the success of the creative team’s previous, crowd-funding, film Star Wreck.

The film, directed by Stephan Elliott (The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert) took over $1.83m across 242 screens, with a screen average of $7,580.

The film placed third overall behind Underworld: Awakening, which took $2.68m across 214 screens for an average of $12,554, also in its first week, and The Descendants, which took $2.37m across 224 screens for a screen average of $10,614.

The film’s first week box office takings beat that of Red Dog, which took $1.78m.

Producer Lawrence Malkin told Encore: “People are hungry for a laugh, It has no pre-tensions, it’s not setting out to make a grand statement. It’s objective is to make you laugh and have a fun time.”

The film stars Xavier Samuel, Rebel Wilson, Olivia Newton-John and Brits Kris Marshall and Kevin Bishop.

Malkin produced both the British and American Death at a Funerals. He said the success of that film in Australia was a big part of making a film here. “We couldn’t be happier with the support from Icon, Screen Australia and Screen NSW.”

Malkin said the film is designed to appeal to more than just young males. “We did a lot of testing here and in the states. A bromance does suggest your audience is 18-35 males and we feel we’ve made a film to appeal to them. But it appeals to over 35 women, 18 year old women – so that’s super exciting. I’d be happy to call it a bromance but I wouldn’t want to limit it, It’s had a surprisingly broad appeal.”

The film, McCoy’s 25th, tells the story of surfing, from wooden planks in Hawaii in the late 1800s after a missionary ban to the days of TV surfer girl Gidget to today, that sees the sport as a $6b global industry.

McCoy said: “The aim of the movie was to tell the story of surfing in a way that truly encapsulates its spirit and how the art of surf won hearts and continues to conquer the globe. It was a lot of fun to make. I think the result is pretty magical and hope that there’s something in there for everyone.”

McCoy was raised on Hawaii’s Oahu island before expatriating to Australia. His past films include Bunyip Dreaming, Occy: The Occumentary, Blue Horizon.

A Deeper Shade of Blue recently won Best Documentary at the X-Dance Action Sports Film Festival in Salt Lake City.

The film will be released throughout Hoyts and independent cinemas, distributed by Garage Entertainment. Garage Entertainment released Fighting Fear in November.