Short film festival to travel to South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe.

Tropfest is to take a series of short film screenings to South Africa, Kenya and Zimbabwe later this year, paving the way for further expansion plans in the coming years.

Tropfest managing director Michael Laverty will visit Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, Johannesburg and Pretoria this month, as a guest of the The Australian High Commission in Pretoria, to present a series of short film screenings to South African audiences.

The film programme will comprise highlights from former Tropfest Australia winners and finalists from 2005 to 2013. Tropfest films will also be screened at events in Kenya and Zimbabwe this month.

Tropfest, which began in a local café in Sydney in 1993, now hosts short film competitions in Australia, South East Asia, New Zealand and the Middle East.

The festival, hosted in Sydney, attracts a national event audience of around 150,000 people. The competition is unique in that every film must be made specifically for Tropfest, will premiere at Tropfest Australia and include the Tropfest Signature Item (TSI), which changes each year. A total of 16 Finalists are selected from around 650 entries.

Tropfest has expanded internationally to now include new competitions and festivals in New York, the Middle East, New Zealand and South East Asia.