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What a shocker!
Filmmaker Abe Forsythe took out first place at Tropfest 2010 for his short film, Shock
In city venues and living rooms all around Australia, audiences watched on as NSW filmmaker Abe Forsythe was awarded first prize at Movie Extra Tropfest 2010 last night for his short film, Shock.
The film tells the story of a radio announcer who has an emotional breakdown on his way to work before sharing celebrity gossip and cracking crude jokes on air.
Inspired by an incident last year on the Kyle and Jackie O radio show, Forsythe's film attempted to reveal the hidden side of celebrity.
For Forsythe who has entered Tropfest numerous times and been a finalist on three occasions, including winning Best Comedy with Being Carl Williams last year, this win meant a lot. "It means the world to me, especially after first entering when I was 16 and winning now. I really do honestly think that Tropfest is responsible for my learning how to make films and my encouragement to keep doing it. So I feel very, very grateful."
Forsythe's film, along with the work of the other 15 finalists, impressed a panel of six celebrity judges which included Genevieve Clay, Michael & Peter Spierig, Elijah Wood, Toni Collette, & David Michôd.
A host of other Australian identities turned out to celebrate the night including Baz Luhrmann, Warwick Thornton, Peter Helliar, Claudia Karvan, Pia Miranda, Jessica Marais and Jeremy Sims.
Young NSW filmmakers, Peter Richardson & Josh Raish, were awarded first prize at Trop Jr 2010 for their film Every Coin Has Two Sides.
When asked if they planned to enter the competition next year, Richardson replied, "We're a bit too old for Trop Jr now but we'll definitely enter more competitions, perhaps Movie Extra Tropfest."
Taking out first prize at Max Tropscope, the competition which offers musicians the chance to write a score for a short film, was 21 year-old emerging Sydney artist, Zac Cranko, for his score 1M1.
At the end of another year of Australia's favourite short film festival, Director John Polson commented, "2010 has been one of the strongest years yet, both in terms of the quality of the films and the audience attendance."