Tropfest has today announced that Maya Newell, Director of the 2015 landmark feature length documentary Gayby Baby, will join Tropfest’s judging panel for short film’s night of nights.
Newell will judge Tropfest’s 16 finalists alongside actor/director Mel Gibson (Braveheart, The Passion of Christ, Apocalypto), The Mentalist star Simon Baker, Rebecca Gibney (Packed to the Rafters and Wanted), Cinematographer Don McAlpine (Moulin Rouge!), and Director Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker).
Newell’s film Gaby Baby was nominated for Best Documentary at the 2015 AACTA awards and follows the lives of four children – Gus, Ebony, Matt and Graham – whose parents are either gay or lesbian.
The film was catapulted into mainstream news when a screening planned during class time at a Sydney high school resulted in an extraordinary ministerial statewide ban on screening the documentary during school hours.
Tropfest is set to take place this Valentine’s Day, Sunday 14 February, 2016.
———-
