18 years since our Tropfest Win - Marry Me

Director Michelle Lehman receives the Tropfest 2008 First Prize Winner trophy for Marry Me, presented by Geoffrey Rush and Tropfest founder John Polson.

18 years ago this month, Marry Me - written and directed by Michelle Lehman - won Tropfest 2008. It was one of the very first productions made under the Conti Bros Films banner, and a moment that quietly, but profoundly, shaped everything that followed.

At the time, Tropfest was the biggest short film festival in the world. Films didn’t just screen - they played to huge live crowds across Australia, with tens of thousands gathered in parks, watching together. For filmmakers, it wasn’t just a festival - it was the dream.

A Shared Dream

What feels especially meaningful looking back, is that none of us were originally from Sydney.

We had all landed here from different states and countries, chasing work, community, and the vague but powerful hope that we might one day make something that mattered. Going to Tropfest together - sitting in the grass, surrounded by an enormous crowd - we all shared the same quiet thought:

Imagine if one day we made a film that played here.

That collective dream sat with us long before Marry Me existed.

“You Could Win Tropfest With This”

When Michelle first emailed me her script, I replied with a single line:

“You could win Tropfest with this!”

It wasn’t said lightly - and not as wishful thinking - but because the story had something rare: clarity, emotional precision, and a point of view that felt honest and complete. Loosely inspired by Michelle’s childhood growing up in 1980s Adelaide, the script captured a specific time, place and feeling that somehow felt universal.

A Team Finding Its Voice

What also feels important looking back is where we all were creatively at the time.

Marry Me wasn’t just an early Conti Bros Films project — it was a moment where a core group of collaborators were starting our creative journeys together.

For Michelle, the film came from a very specific creative realisation. While studying at the VCA, she had made short films that were technically strong and well received, but she felt they lacked a personal connection. Marry Me became a conscious response to that feeling. Drawing loosely from her own childhood growing up in 1980s Adelaide, Michelle wanted to tell a story that was emotionally honest, intimate, and grounded in lived experience.

Her background as a family and children’s photographer, combined with her experience directing children in earlier shorts, meant she was perfectly positioned to capture performances carried by mostly non-speaking child actors. The film’s emotional weight rests almost entirely on observation, behaviour and timing — and Michelle’s calm, intuitive approach allowed those performances to feel completely natural, never pushed or over-directed.

Kati Lehtonen (Production Designer), was equally essential in shaping the world of the film. Her desire was to create a heightened sense of childhood nostalgia — a world seen through a child’s eyes. She drew directly from her own upbringing, replicating clothing she herself had worn as a girl, grounding the film in tactile, lived-in detail that felt emotionally true, while using colour and styling as a tool to progress the character’s journey.

At the same time, Dan Freene (DOP), Karl (Producer) and I had all recently begun working regularly on commercial sets, gaining firsthand experience in how professional productions functioned. That meant we could pull together a solid crew, apply real production discipline, and bring a level of technical and logistical know-how that helped the film punch well above its weight.

It was a convergence of instincts, skills and timing — everyone bringing something essential, whilst we were all still learning.

Making the Film

We shot Marry Me over two, three day weekends, at the dawn of digital filmmaking. The film was shot on a Panasonic Varicam, recording in 720p on a 2/3″ sensor. To achieve a more cinematic look, we used a P+S adaptor, which sat between the lens and camera, optically reducing a Super 35 image onto the smaller sensor and allowing us to use cinema lenses.

Filming in Sydney — before Google Maps — meant days of driving around the suburbs of Western Sydney to places we’d never visited, stitching together multiple streets to create the perfect location. Dan, Karl and I also leaned heavily into our own childhood memories, piecing together the kids’ bikes and having fun building the ramps.

It was, in every sense, a labour of love.

DOP Dan Freene and Director Michelle Lehman line up the opening shot.

Lighting with only the sun.

That Screening, That Moment

Watching Marry Me play in front of such an enormous live audience is something we’ll never forget.

There’s a moment in the film where Chloe (Jahla Bryant) jumps her bike over Jason (Ryan Fitzpatrick) — and when it played on those giant screens, the crowd erupted. Laughter, gasps, applause. You could feel the collective joy ripple through the park.

It’s one thing to make a film people respond to online, or in the confines of a small cinema. It’s another to feel thousands of people react together, in real-time. That moment alone, made us feel like we had already won.

Dan Freene, Karl Conti, Michelle Lehman and Myles Conti celebrate inside the finalists tent, prior to Tropfest 2008.

Jahla Bryant, Michelle Lehman and Ryan Fitzpatrick, Tropfest 2008.

Life After Tropfest

Marry Me went on to become one of the most popular Tropfest-winning films of its time, receiving over 2 million views on YouTube within weeks of its release. We’ve since been told the film has been used in classrooms across Australia and around the world as an example of effective short-form storytelling — something we never could have imagined when we made it.

Michelle accepted the Tropfest award while heavily pregnant with our first child, Ariel, who now at almost 18, is an aspiring filmmaker herself. Last year, she made three short films as part of her Year 12 studies. Watching that creative thread carry forward has been deeply moving.

Looking Back

Winning Tropfest wasn’t just a career milestone — it was the moment a shared dream became real. A reminder that stories made with care, ingenuity and heart can travel far beyond their humble beginnings.

As we look back 18 years on, we remain incredibly grateful — for the collaborators, the audience, and for the younger versions of ourselves who sat in the grass believing it might just be possible.

Tropfest Returns

With Tropfest returning, it’s exciting to know a new wave of filmmakers will get to experience that same collective rush we once dreamed about.

This year, Conti Bros Films is assisting the producers of Project Hour Glass, one of the new finalists, and I’ll be there with my daughter, Ariel.

I’m looking forward to seeing the other films and feeling that energy again. And I can’t help but wonder if she’ll be looking up at the screen imagining whether one day one of her own films might play there, just as we once did.

CAST

Chloe - JAHLA BRYANT

Jason - RYAN FITZPATRICK

Wayne - MAX LAWSON

Jason’s Mum - MICHELLE LAWSON

Biker 1 - MAX LAWSON

Biker 2 - KAYDEN LAWSON

Biker 3 - ANDREW CRACKER

CREW

Writen by - MICHELLE LEHMAN

Directed by - MICHELLE LEHMAN

Produced by - KARL CONTI

Director of Photography - DAN FREENE ACS

Production Designer - KATI LEHTONEN

Editor - MYLES CONTI

Composer - KRIS MACKEN

Costume Design - KATI LEHTONEN

1st AD - MYLES CONTI

1st AC - KIERON DOBBIN

Gaffer - STEVE SCHOFIELD

Best Boy - ANDREW WARD

Electric - ROB MORTON

Video Split - DANIEL CHRISTIE

Sound Mix - BRENDON MAHER

Sound Recordist - PIERS BURBROOK DE VERE

Sound Recordist - MORGAN HEALY

Boom Operator - MORGAN HEALY

Boom Operator - MATTHEW FORD

Title Design - BEN ALLEN

Hair - JULIA MC GRATH

Stills - FELIX SCHUMACK