TropFest! ‘Tis truly excellent to have Australian short film goodness back in one’s life. I post the winners every year, so I don’t want to repeat myself too much, but TropFest is a unique short film festival, birthed in Australia. All the entries are short and exclusive to the festival. The finalists screen in front of enormous outdoor crowds every year, as well as on satellite simulcasts, making it the most widely watched short film event in the world. If that weren’t cool enough for you, It also has <ahem> an extremely progressive online exhibition policy.

We linked to the YouTube playlist of last years finalists, and 2008 TropFest AU and TropFest NY winners, Marry Me and the sublime Mankind is No Island, got full reviews. This years finalists are trickling onto YouTube right now and are available at ninemsn in poorer quality. As the for the field: The winner is Shock, a 4 min comedic short from Abe Forsythe.

Shock doesn’t strike you immediately as a comedy, at least for me it didn’t. Watching a man sob uncontrollably for minutes at a time has a way of dislocating your funny bone. Using handheld camera techniques to impart of voyeuristic feel, the audience is subjected to this man’s anguish, but eventually the length and various settings of his spiritual devastation stretch the line of credulity, imparting the desired absurdist effect just in time for the payoff. Non-Australians may not be familiar with the film’s dedicatee—notorious shock-jock Kyle Sandilands, but the intent is obvious.

Hilariously enough Shock is blocked on YouTube right now by a copyright claim from TropFest NY at this time. No matter, you can still watch, though sadly at lesser quality, on the Australian site. But, for my money (or time, in this case) I’d watch the runner-up, the ridiculous claymation My Neighborhood Has Been Overrun by Baboons, which is about as hilarious as it sounds and available is dreamy 720p.

Watch the Finalists at: TropFest YouTube Channel