He shot the World War II drama Hacksaw Ridge in Sydney before Christmas. Now, after sparring with Ricky Gervais at the Golden Globes, Mel Gibson will be a judge at Tropfest on Sunday night.

The actor-director will join a panel at the short film festival alongside Simon Baker (The Mentalist), Rebecca Gibney (Packed to the Rafters, Wanted), director Jocelyn Moorhouse (The Dressmaker) and cinematographer Don McAlpine (The Dressmaker, Moulin Rouge).

"I know what it's like to be starting out in this industry in Australia and what a big difference a break can make to a career," Gibson said. "Tropfest has been doing an incredible job over the last 23 years as a platform for young filmmakers and I'm absolutely delighted to support the great work [the festival] is doing."

After Tropfest was cancelled in December due to a highly publicised financial shortfall and new sponsor CGU Insurance emerged to bring it back to life, the 16 finalist films will screen in Centennial Park with a live broadcast on SBS 2.

And in a sign of a new direction for the festival, Tropfest founder John Polson has told Short Cuts of a major change – the festival will no longer require filmmakers to sign over exclusive rights to their films.

"For a number a years now, Tropfest has asked for exclusive rights in perpetuity," he said. "The transparent transaction we were trying to make was we'll give you the biggest platform in the world for these films and, in return, we used the films to secure sponsorships and work with partners like SBS and others."

But Polson said it had become apparent during a crowdfunding campaign to raise $100,000 to cover a strategic review that the rights issue was a vexed issue for filmmakers.

"When you hear the words 'exclusive in perpetuity', it sounds terrible and we're going to be changing that policy."

Polson said Tropfest would only require non-exclusive rights and would explore whether it was legally possible to release rights to Tropfest's back catalogue.

Australian interest at British Academy Awards

As the movie prize-giving season continues, the British Academy awards feature plenty of Australian interest in London on the weekend.

Just as at the Oscars at the end of the month, Cate Blanchett is nominated as best actress for Carol.

Mad Max: Fury Road missed nominations for best film and director at the BAFTAs but is up for seven awards – best cinematography, editing, costume design, production design, sound, special visual effects and make-up and hair.

And Jennifer Peedom's Sherpa, which screened at both the Sydney and Melbourne film festivals last year, is nominated for best documentary.

Shot on Mount Everest as 16 sherpas were killed in an avalanche in 2014, it is up against a hot field that includes Amy, Cartel Land, He Named Me Malala and Call Me Marlon.

Home Alone meets Scream in Sydney

Olivia DeJonge and Levi Miller in Safe Neighbourhood. Photo: Sean Reilly.

Just before Sydney hosts Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant, with Michael Fassbender playing both the android from Prometheus and his doppelganger, another film has snuck into Fox Studios.

American-based Australian director Chris Peckover has just finished shooting Safe Neighbourhood, a thriller described as "Home Alone meets Scream" about a babysitter (Olivia DeJonge) who has to defend a 12-year-old boy (Levi Miller) from strangers breaking into the house over Christmas.

The film also stars Virginia Madsen (Joy), Patrick Warburton (Seinfeld, The Dish) and Ed Oxenbould (Paper Planes) and is set in a nameless American city that producer Brett Thornquest (Infini) says was inspired by Chicago, where Home Alone was shot.

"We've recreated a white Christmas in Sydney during the middle of summer," he said. "It's a thriller but there's black comedy laced throughout."

With a $5 million budget, the filmmakers built an American house inside Fox Studios and shot exteriors at an home at Warrawee on the upper north shore during the 30-day shoot.

The film was originally due to shoot in the US but switched to Australia to take advantage of production incentives.

Like Paul Currie's thriller 2.22, which recreated New York's Grand Central Station in Fox Studios last year, and Shane Abbess' sci-fi film Infini, Safe Neighbourhood has its cast speaking in American accents.

"Chris was living in America when he co-wrote the script and took it to Best Medicine Productions. So the film was always set to be shot in America until we came along and said 'here's another way to go about doing it'."

The filmmakers finished shooting on the weekend to make way for Alien, which will star Katherine Waterston and Fassbender, who played ex-lovers in Steve Jobs.

"They're about to invade the whole of Fox I think," said Thornquest. "A few of our crew are going over onto that."

Australian producer changes Oscars speeches

After a successfully introducing innovations to TV coverage of American sports, Australian producer David Hill is making a mark on the Oscars – getting rid of the time-honoured tradition of winners rattling off an endless list of names.

Producing the awards with Reginald Hudlin, Hill is introducing a scroll of names that will run at the bottom of the TV screen and encouraged winners to say something heartfelt instead of just thanks.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, nominees are being asked to submit a list of those they would like to thank if they win. Then if they are called to the stage on February 28, a scroll of those names will run across the bottom of the screen like a news ticker tape.

"Acceptance speeches have become a list of names and, more often than not, time ran out before something could be spoken from the heart about the art, about the vision, about the experience, about the meaning of the moment," Hill said at the nominees lunch in Los Angeles. "We needed to rethink how this could be a better experience for everyone."

While details are still being worked out, Hill promised the scroll would serve as "a permanent record of your gratitude" while freeing up the winners to use their 45 seconds productively.

Sherman teaming up with Weinsteins again

It was a successful collaboration last time that saw Australian producer Emile Sherman collect the best picture Oscar for The King's Speech.

Now it looks like See-Saw Films' new project, a bio-pic of Mary Magdalene, will have the Weinstein company as distributor.

The Weinsteins are reportedly in negotiations to acquire North American rights, with Rooney Mara expected to play the famous acolyte of Jesus Christ.

Garth Davis, who has the drama Lion out this year after working with Sherman on Top of the Lake, will direct.

French Festival unveils program

Brigitte Bardot in Contempt, which is screening at the French Film Festival.

The always popular Alliance Francaise French Film Festival has announced Rosalie Blum will be the opening night attraction next month.

Directed by Julien Rappeneau, the comic drama centres on a hairdresser (Kyan Khojandi) who begins following a mysterious woman (Noémie Lvovsky) after experiencing a powerful sense of deja vu.

On closing night, the festival will screen a restored version of Jean-Luc Godard's 1963 classic satirical drama Contempt, starring Brigitte Bardot.

The 42-feature program also includes new films from such well-known directors Jacques Audiard (Dheepan), Julie Delpy (Lolo), Michel Gondry (Microbe & Gasoline), Maïwenn (Mon Roi), Guillaume Nicloux (Valley of Love) and Catherine Corsini (La Belle Saison).

The festival runs in Sydney from March 1 to 24 at Palace Norton Street and Verona, Chauvel Cinema and Cremorne Orpheum followed by a highlights program at Casula Powerhouse and Parramatta's Riverside Theatres from April 7 to 10.

In Melbourne, the festival runs from March 2 to 24 at Palace Balwyn, Brighton Bay, Cinema Como and Westgarth, Kino Cinemas and the Astor Theatre.

Flickerfest heads to Melbourne

Adam Elliot's animated short film Ernie Biscuit.

The Bondi short film festival Flickerfest is heading to Melbourne next week with a program that includes Adam Elliot's Ernie Biscuit, his first short film since Oscar-winner Harvie Krumpet.

Also screening are David Hansen's comedy Slingshot, which won the best Australian short film award at the festival last month, Nina Buxton's Woof! which won best editing, and Mikey Hill's heartwarming The Orchestra, which won best Australian short animation.

The screenings and party are at Palace Kino Cinemas on February 17.

"Melbourne is my original hometown," said festival director Bronwyn Kidd. "I always get a thrill to see how well our creative and inspirational short films are received by our Melbourne friends and the capacity audiences that turn out."

Grandpa stays top

A flat weekend in Australian cinemas – the takings for the top 20 films fell 29 per cent to just $9.7 million – saw Dirty Grandpa stay on top for the second consecutive weekend.

The poorly reviewed comedy took another $1.5 million to reach $4.6 million, which makes it far more successful in this country than in the US where it has taken just $US29.4 million.

The Revenant added another $1 million to reach a strong $17.5 million, with Zoolander 2 taking a decent $923,000 on previews.

But there were lacklustre openings for the Nicholas Sparks' romance The Choice ($603,000 with a cinema average of just $2900) and Steve Jobs ($267,000 with an average of $4500).

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