Congratulations to WIFT members Nicola Peeperkorn, Andrew Cooper, David Gould and Yamin Tun who are among the the 16 talented filmmakers whose films will screen to a live audience and judging panel on February 27 at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands in New Plymouth, Taranaki for Tropfest 2016.
The final 16 short films include a diverse range of genres from drama and comedy to horror, mockumentary and animation. "Every year the pre-selection judges job gets tougher as we see an increase in the number of entries and the amount of outstanding films" says Tropfest NZ Festival Manager Cleo Wood.
First prize includes a five-day film immersion trip to LA, sponsored by the New Zealand Screen Association and Motion Picture Association as well as a festival sponsored cash prize of $10,000.
Cash prizes of $2500 will also be awarded to category winners for Best Actress, Best Actor, Te Tohu Auahatanga Maori Award, recognising outstanding Maori creativity in film (Sponsored by Nga Aho Whakaari and Te Puni Kokiri) as well Best Use of Visual Effects and Best Animated Film (sponsored by Yoobee School of Design).
Tropfest is free to attend but a gold coin donation can be made on the night.
All the films entered into Tropfest NZ are seven minutes or less and must contain the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI), which for 2016 is 'DREAM'.
The films and their directors and producers are:
Film: Meet Hamish
Directors & Producers: WIFT members Nicola Peeperkorn (Auckland) & Andrew Cooper (Auckland)
Logline: Country boy Hamish's obsession with chilli makes for an awkward job interview in the big smoke.
Film: Natalia Rising
Director & Producer: Floris Van Gaalen (Hastings)
Logline: A young lady attempts to win the affection of a local shopkeeper by plotting a 'fake' heist.
Film: John Squared
Director & Producer: Emily French (Christchurch/Wellington)
Co-Directors: Matthew Wilkey, Caitlyn Parslow, Chris Bird, Kate Lambert
Logline: A young scientist who is on the verge of achieving his lifelong dream of genetic replication encounters a problem when his clone believes he is the original.
Film: Bathilda's Cauldron
Director: Chayse Millar (Auckland)
Producer: Ben Hobbs
Logline: Dreams aren't free.
Film: The Dairy Diaries: Daniel's Entry (Rotorua/Hamilton)
Director & Producer: Ashton Ledger
Logline: A teenage boy hopes to succeed his late father's title as New Zealand's champion gumboot thrower and save his family owned and operated dairy from permanent closure.
Film: Lon-Done - or the patriotic homesick kiwi hater's survival guide to London
Director & Producer: Allan George (Rotorua/Auckland)
Logline: With the popularity of the Kiwi O.E on the rise, this film documents a young Kiwi man's journey in London as he struggles to come to terms with what homesickness really means.
Film: Bites
Director & Producer: Florence Lam
Co-Director: Mia Maramara (Auckland)
Logline: A woman on a mission to find her husband proves that there can be life after the apocalypse.
Film: Tomorrow's Dream
Director: WIFT member David Gould (Wellington)
Producer: Anne Jaeger-Annear
Logline: A young man develops a machine to travel back in time to save his girlfriend and unborn child.
Film: Papa Taniwha
Director: Kennedy Faimanifo (Auckland)
Producer: Gray Davis
Logline: A city boy experiences the spirits within his grandfather's Marae carvings.
Film: Halfway to Timbuktu
Director & Producer: Kirk Bremner (Dunedin)
Co-Director: Luke Bremner
Logline: In the middle of nowhere, two slackers must hitch a ride by any means if they are to get anywhere but halfway to Timbuktu...
Film: Back o' the Bus
Director & Producer: Hannah Taylor (New Plymouth)
Logline: A story about the resilience and fortitude that comes from being black.
Film: Timothy (or Hunting for the Doppelmonster)
Director & Producer: Christopher Chalmers (Wellington)
Logline: As reports emerge of a mysterious yeti-man living in the woods and stealing people's lunch, champion bird-watcher and cat fancier Timothy decides to go searching for the peckish creature of the woods, only to discover something rather unexpected.
Film: Lock & Key 2: Rise of the Demons
Director: Nick Garrett (Auckland)
Producer: Nick Garrett, Laura Putnam & Ben Lange
Logline: Always judge a book by its cover.
Film: The Dream of the Driver
Director & Producer: WIFT member Yamin Tun (Auckland)
Logline: A man who thinks he's living the dream finds his dream unravel when he falls unexpectedly for a woman he shouldn't.
Film: Wings
Director: Jharaiz Kiriona (Whanganui / Auckland)
Producer: Olivia Preston
Logline: A teenage skater with a vicious father, befriends a girl who dreams of flying.
The Tropfest YouTube Channel
Past Finalist films can be viewed at Tropfest's YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/tropfest.The channel has 73,728 and the films have been viewed more than 38,120,495times.