Film fans complain about Tropfest winner

Various film fans have complained about the winning movie at this year's Tropfest.

Underbelly star Damon Gameau won the first prize at the Australian movie festival last weekend with his animated film Animal Beatbox, but YouTube user Eustus Comedy has claimed that it is a "rip-off" of his own work.

Fans of Comedy's 2010 movie have now taken to the website saying: "I like yours better and good to see you had the idea first."

Another said: "This is a complete rip off of Eustuscomedy's clip posted in Sept 2010. Tropfest needs to look into this and tighten screenings for finalists. This winner needs to be de-throned. Dislike. (sic)"

Tropfest founder John Polson told The Age: "In the age of YouTube, it's possible to find almost anything on the internet.

"It doesn't surprise me [that] there are other clips combining animals and music. It wouldn't surprise me, either, if there were similar clips for every one of the finalist films. Comparisons are easy to draw with the explosion of footage on the internet, accessible by fingertips worldwide.

"10 years ago this wouldn't be an issue, but with literally millions and millions of clips available now, it's not very difficult to find just about anything."