Tropfest

Overview

Dust off your picnic blanket: Tropfrest is back. Following a six-year hiatus, the world's biggest short-film festival — which launched in 1993 and, at its peak, would pull crowds of up to 100,000 — returns to Centennial Park this February for a free celebration of short-form cinema from Australia and around the globe.

While the world has changed quite a bit since the last edition in 2019, Tropfest's core mission remains unchanged: to give filmmakers at any stage of their careers a genuinely global platform. The traditional Tropfest signature item — included in every film to prove it was made specifically for the festival — is also back. This year's prompt is an hourglass, so keep an eye out for the creative ways it appears on screen.

New for Tropfest 2026 are two initiatives in partnership with YouTube. The first is a digital development program for emerging filmmakers and creators; the second, launching in February, is a series of talks, workshops and masterclasses spanning everything from screenwriting to working with AI.

As well as premiering their work to tens of thousands of cinephiles — both in Centennial Park and via a global YouTube livestream — filmmakers will compete for some serious prizes, including a $50,000 first prize and a share of $100,000 through the new CommBank-Tropfest Emerging Filmmakers Fund.

And if you needed any more incentive to snag a spot on the lawn, Tropfest has a long history of spotting talent early. Past alumni include Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, Rebel Wilson, Nash Edgerton and Sam Worthington — so you might just catch Australia's next breakout star before Hollywood does.