Actor, writer and director Lianne Mackessy has taken home the top prize at this year’s Tropfest, with her six-minute short Crescendo, which follows the day in a life of a performer trying to rush to an important audition while caring for her two young infants.
On Sunday night, a crowd of over 35,000 people gathered at Sydney’s Centennial Park to watch the sixteen finalist films battle it out for the major prize of $50,000. The popular cultural event, known as the world’s largest short film festival, returned after a seven year hiatus. In 2019, the competition was forced to shut down due to financial “mismanagement”.
Crescendo stars actor/musician Laura Bunting, playing a mother of two who has an epiphany while trying to rush to a call-back after her babysitting plans fall through.
The short appears to be making a comment about the conflict mothers continue to face, being forced to choose between parenthood and creativity output. Mackessy said she was inspired to write the film while she was pregnant with her daughter, who makes a cameo in the short.
“It was really just me feeling like I needed to rush back into things after having a baby,” she said. “I felt so much pressure to hurry up and get back into things after having the bub, so it was really just about that.”
She added that the short’s lead, Bunty, is also a mother of a young child, and that she was “a big part of getting it up.” Mackessy and Bunty were part of the quarter of producers of the film, who also include Chhayly Moek and James Pope.
The short contains original songs written and performed by Bunting, who Mackessy described during her acceptance speech on Sunday night as “incredible.”
“Your talent blows me away, you just carried this with so much heart and buoyancy.”
For her performance in the short, Bunty took home NIDA Emerging Performer Award for Best Female Actress.
Mackessy thanked the audience for “championing short films” and “trudging through [the rain].” She also thanked the festival’s Founder and Director John Polson, and this year’s sponsors, which include actor Bryan Brown, Racing NSW boss Peter V’Landys, philanthropist Sarah Murdoch and property investor Richard Weinberg.
“Without them we couldn’t have connected with audiences the way we have,” Mackessy said.
This year’s star-studded jury included Margot Robbie, Sarah Snook, directors James Cameron and Dylan River, English actor Taron Egerton, filmmaker Danny Philippou and producer Bruna Papandrea.
Jury President Robbie described the short as “absolutely pitch perfect.”
During an interview with the Herald prior to the evening’s festivities, Robbie said she was honoured to take on the role as jury president. “I get most excited when I can feel a distinct voice – that a filmmaker really has their style or their tone or something to say – and that can come through,” she said.
Sarah Snook said the seven year absence of the festival was “kind of good to have” as it provided organisers with an opportunity “to come back stronger than ever.”
“You need those hibernation times to work out what was working, what wasn’t,” she said.
John Polson praised this year’s jury, saying that they “capture[d] what Tropfest has always been about — bold ideas and fearless storytelling.”
“These people are some of the most influential artists working in the world today and that’s incredibly inspiring for our finalists,” he said. “We are so thankful for their time – and for their commitment to supporting the next generation of filmmakers.”
This year’s competition saw over 700 entries. The runner up and third prize winners also received cash prizes, enabled by the newly established CommBank Tropfest Emerging Filmmakers Fund.
The top three winners and recipients of other awards, including for best cinematography, received other prizes, including top tier camera equipment, Pandora jewellery, and a car.
Melbourne based director and film lecturer Nicky Tyndale-Biscoe’s Silent Night took home the third prize of $20,000 and the Pandora Women’s Brilliance Award.
The film follows a poignant incident between a mother and daughter escaping family violence and a professional woman at a bus station in Victoria.
Describing the making of the film in the behind the scenes feature, Tyndale-Biscoe revealed that most of her crew were made up of her talented students at the JMC Academy, where she teaches.
“I have never worked so fast, with so little sleep, so little money to pay crew on any film in my entire life,” she said.
Image credit: Lianne Mackessy