1800 excited Tropfest fans made their way to the MadFish Wineries in Margaret River and Denmark, over the WA Labour Day long weekend to watch the 16 finalists of Tropfest 2013.

Tropfest, an all Australian initiative and the world’s largest short-film festival, is always a highly anticipated event and this year marked the 8th screening at the MadFish Wineries.

This year, the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI) were ‘balloons’ and our talented up and coming producers and directors certainly were successful in conjuring up some very interesting films that had the crowds laughing!

The winners from this year’s Tropfest Australia were:

1. We’ve All Been There, directed by Nicholas Clifford and produced by Michael Ciccone, Jim Wright and Bridget O’Shea

2. Better Than Sinatra, directed and produced by Jefferson Grainger

3. Punctured, directed and produced by Nick Baker and Tristan Klein

In the lead up to the screenings, MadFish also ran an Ad Competition, calling for 30 second adverts for MadFish by aspiring local amateur film producers. The judging was tough, and the result was a tied-win between an entry from Toby Venus and Matt Lister. Congratulations to all people who entered, the effort was impressive!

In conjunction with Burch Family Wines’ participation in the SurfAid Corporate Cup Margaret River 2013, a raffle was also held at the Margaret River screenings which raised over $3040.00 for the non-profit humanitarian organisation whose aim is to raise the welfare of communities off the coast of Sumatra.

The winners of the SurfAid raffle are:

First Prize – Ronan Cosgrove won a mixed dozen of Howard Park wines and lunch for 4 people at the winery, prepared by winery chef Saul Atkinson.

Second Prize – David Neale won a mixed dozen of Howard Park wines.

Third Prize – Bill Mitchell won a twinpack of Howard Park wines.

The next Tropfest gig date has changed! Stay tuned for the next screening date at MadFish Wines to be announced shortly…