A Sydney Filmmaker Is Boycotting Tropfest Because Parramatta Is ‘Too Far Away’

There’s nothing Sydney loves more than some suburb-on-suburb elitism. So it’s not surprising that the decision to move Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, out of the inner-city and into Parramatta, in Sydney’s west, has sparked some backlash. But one filmmaker is so angry about the move that he’s boycotting the entire festival.

Adam St John, who runs Saint Media Group in Newtown, told The Daily Telegraph that he wasn’t going to attend this year’s Tropfest because it was too far away from the inner city. “There is no way I’m going to hop on the train and go to the middle of nowhere for it,” St John said. “I won’t go to Parramatta, no way. Why would you put something that was so famous into an area where no filmmakers are based?”

Tropfest’s move out west has been supported by Sydney’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore, and the state MP for the inner-city seat of Sydney, Alex Greenwich. But that hasn’t stopped people expressing their scepticism about the change.

Is this whole #Tropfest moving to Parramatta thing a joke? Where is Ashton? Is the arts community being Punk’d? @TROPFEST

— Sarah Doreen (@Sarah_Doreen) August 15, 2016

@9NewsAUS Tropfest in parramatta! Forget it! — Nick Bateman (@NickBateman1) August 15, 2016

Hmmmm, Tropfest is moving to parramatta, probably won’t be going ever again. #Tropfest #tropfail

— Steph Zuniga-Maher (@stephzuniga) August 15, 2016

It’s an incredibly inner-city Sydney thing to complain about. But none of St John’s arguments for boycotting the festival actually stack up. Even if you’re one of those people who hate leaving Newtown the trip to Parramatta is hardly ‘too far away’. According to Google Maps the average travel time from Newtown to Centennial Park, using public transport, is 31 minutes. Newtown to Parramatta averages 41 minutes. Woah, that’s a whole 10 minutes longer to commute! But the bigger point is that Parramatta is far more accessible to everyone in Sydney who isn’t from the eastern suburbs or inner city, given it’s located in the geographic centre of the city and has solid public transport links, including a train station serviced by three lines. Unsurprisingly people weren’t too impressed by this kind of suburb elitism.

truly the greatest selling point of parramatta is that people from newtown aren’t willing to go there. — Colley (@JamColley) August 17, 2016

You know it’s actually harder to get from Newtown to Centennial Park than from Newtown to Parramatta.

— elly embells (@ellymc) August 17, 2016

I’m entering a documentary about Parramatta but I need extra funding for the long journey and husky sled. — Jo Thornely (@jothornely) August 17, 2016

the newtown to parramatta thing is very funny to me but also like how many people in melbourne refuse to go south of the river

— noun verber (@alanvaarwerk) August 16, 2016

As silly as St John’s comments are, they have highlighted the fact that geographic and economic divide on arts funding is a real problem. The only arts schools in Sydney are in the inner-city and north shore, and prominent arts figures have been calling on the government to invest more in arts infrastructure in western Sydney. Making Tropfest more accessible by shifting it to Parramatta is a great idea and it’s already being welcomed by artists and filmmakers, including Oscar winning director George Miller.

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Feature image via Tropfest