The 2011 Movie Extra Tropfest short film festival took place today in Australia, and of the 16 films, Animal Beatbox by Damon Gameau was declared the winner.

Click to Watch "Animal Beatbox"

The field was strong this year, with Joel Edgerton of the Blue-Tongue Collective represented for his film Monkeys, as well Mankind is No Island filmmaker and prior winner of Tropfest New York, Jason Van Genderen for The Unspoken. However Animal Beatbox thrilled the audience and celebrity judges alike, with its lo-fi and charming stop-motion ways.

We’ve covered Tropfest for the last few years in both its Australian and New York editions, however it is the Australian edition that is  the most notable for the sheer reach and enthusiasm it generates in its native country. Over 150,000 people comes out to view the films in various locations on gigantic outdoor screens. Hundreds of thousands more watch along at home of TV’s and for anyone that missed it, DVD’s of all the finalists will be distributed in the Sydney Morning Herald on the 26th.

Congrats to all the finalists and especially to Mr. Gameau for the win. It is a gimmicky work, but damn! what a gimmick! I’ve seen it 3 times in the past 15 minutes. Hilarious.

Watch the 2011 Finalists in a playlist on: Tropfest’s YouTube Channel