Matt Hardie and Bamboozled win top prize Tropfest crowd 'Bamboozled' Sydney filmmaker Matt Hardie wins both Best Film and Best Male Actor for his comedy Bamboozled at the festival's new location in Centennial Park. Nine News. PT0M22S http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/action/externalEmbeddedPlayer?id=d-2yzzq 620 349 December 9, 2013 - 7:43AM It was a night to remember for Sydney filmmaker Matt Hardie, winning the 22nd instalment of the Tropfest short film festival for his comedic film Bamboozled, and also for taking home the prize for Best Male Actor. I feel ecstatic. I'm losing my mind." says Hardie. "It doesn't feel real," said co-star Aaron Tsindos, who shared the Best Male Actor award. Hardie said the film didn't take long to create once he had his idea. I was going for a walk, I knew I wanted to make a Tropfest film and sex change popped into my head. He took home a car and $10,000 in prize money. This year's signature item wasn't anything physical, but rather, a theme - change. The films embraced the topic, with make-overs, sex changes and even NRL star David Williams morphing into a werewolf. But what were the judges looking for? "Anything that affects me ... that hits me in the solarplexus," was part of the criteria that Kriv Stenders applied to the judging process. Stenders, director of award-winning film Red Dog, was a member of the judging panel faced with the arduous task of culling down over 600 entries to just 16 finalists. I remember going to the very first festival in the early nineties. To imagine what it's become now would've been unimaginable. Another member of the panel was Legally Blonde director Robert Luketic, who despite feature film success got his start in short films. I'm excited to judge. I got my start in shorts so this is cool, it's very nostalgic for me. He and Stenders were joined on the six person panel by actor Susie Porter, producer Bruna Papandrea, director-stuntman Nash Edgerton and Adam Elliot, the creator of Harvie Krumpet. The festival, which began in Sydney over 20 years ago has continued to grow in size, and is now held across the world. Sunday's event was actually the second Tropfest this year - the date change meant there was one in February and one in December - and Hardie was selected as a finalist at both. This year the the 16 films were broadcast on three screens and the Sydney event was moved from The Domain to Centennial Park, a move creator John Polson described as 'cocky'. "It's kind of like the Olympics of shorts if you have a look at the scale of this," Luketic said. I think it's great. I'm so proud of John Polson. Organisers also took the opportunity to announce that next year's signature object will be a mirror. Tropfest Winner Bamboozled by Matt Hardie Second Place Makeover by Don Percy Third Place Honi Soit Qui Mal Y Pense by Tom Abood Best Female Actor Kaiya Jones in Coping Best Male Actor Matt Hardie and Aaron Tsindos in Bamboozled Nikon DSLR Film Award Claude Gonzalez for Ariel Qantas Film Cadetship Martin Sharpe for Still Life