Winning feeling at Tropfest
Seasoned stage and screen performer Evelyn Krape was thrilled at being selected joint best actress at the Tropfest short film festival for the seven-minute dark comedy Can You Hear Me?
FOR seasoned stage and screen performer Evelyn Krape, who has appeared in many big-budget productions since the 1970s, being selected as joint best actress at the Tropfest short film festival for the seven-minute dark comedy Can You Hear Me? was great news.
Can You Hear Me? was one of 16 finalists in the annual short film festival held in Parramatta, Sydney on Saturday night (February 9), which was won by Melbourne filmmaker Brendan Pinches for his film Be You T Fool.
Krape tied for the best actress award with Shabana Azeez, the lovestruck lead courting a candle shop girl in Crush. They each received a $3000 prize donated by Oscar-winning actress Nicole Kidman.
“I was thrilled to win this award and share it with Shabana,” said Krape.
In the film Krape stars as June, a grandmother who gets a hearing aid for the first time. When her family arrives at her home for dinner, she soon realises some things are better left unheard.
“It looks at how elderly Australians are often forgotten or disregarded. It’s a great little revenge movie!” said Krape.
The Tropfest finalists were judged by a panel of industry leaders including leading Australian actors Eric Bana, Marta Dusseldorp, Aaron Pedersen and Jessica McNamee.
In the Trop Jr competition Kat Alexander, 15, of NSW won first prize with her film Rewire.
One of the finalists was Tali Fleishmann, who just entered year 9 at Killara High School, whose black-and-white film, Smile, explored the dichotomy between our public and private selves.
Being a finalist in Trop Jr was not something that Fleishmann and her team of four were originally aiming for.
“We were doing film in English class, and our teacher said that we could send our films off to Tropfest’s junior competition, and we thought, ‘Let’s give it a go,’” said Fleishmann.
The Tropfest festival had its own drama when storms hit Parramatta the night before the event, causing damage which led to the open-air site being moved to another part of the park.
DANNY GOCS
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