At Thursday's launch, industry heavyweights welcomed a $2.7 million NSW government funding boost over three years to help keep the festival free and give emerging filmmakers a platform to tell Australian stories.
Mad Max director George Miller said the return of Tropfest was important because cinema is "critical" and can carry "Australian culture to the world".
Miller recalled how overseas audiences once struggled to understand Australian voices on screen, but said local film and television has helped change that.
"When the first Mad Max was shown in America, they did not understand the Australian accent," he said.
"And now with movies like Crocodile Dundee, with shows like Home and Away and Neighbours, and with modern media, everyone understands Australians."
The NSW government's funding commitment, announced by Premier Chris Minns, would help emerging creatives share their stories on a grand scale.
Miller said it was "very critical that the support comes through", a view echoed by Tropfest Foundation chair Sarah Murdoch, who said Australia's creative identity needed to be nurtured rather than allowed to "get lost".
"There's something unique about the Australian voice, the Australian character and our sense of humour," she said.
Murdoch said Tropfest offered filmmakers a chance to prove they could build an audience at home, rather than thinking overseas success was the only measure of achievement.
"This is an opportunity to show that you can make it here in this country," she said.
For founder John Polson, that belief goes to the heart of the festival.
"If we don't celebrate our own culture, our own people and our own stories, who's going to?" he asked.
Two Hands actor Bryan Brown remembers a time when Australian stories were far less visible on screen.
Growing up, he watched American and British films and never expected to see his own country reflected in cinema.
"It legitimises the fact that you're real. You're here. You have something to say to the world," he said.
"It's just important for us to know that we exist."
That sense of visibility is one reason continued investment matters, particularly when economic uncertainty puts pressure on arts funding.
The Monkey's Mask actor, Susie Porter, said emerging filmmakers needed both a platform and the financial backing to make their work.
"A lot of the time, when countries and the world go into a certain recession, the first thing that happens is that money gets restricted," she said.
"So I think it's great for emerging filmmakers to be able to get a platform and have a really good amount of money behind them."
Porter said Australian's are a "talented bunch" worth backing.
"When some filmmakers become really successful, they go abroad," she said.
"That's fair enough ... But I also think we have our own stories to tell, and they can travel."
Tropfest submissions open on Tuesday, December 1 and close on Tuesday, December 22, 2026, giving a new generation of Australian filmmakers the chance to bring their stories to the screen.
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