Tropfest International Las Vegas

Diane and I attended the last night of Tropfest Las Vegas, which included All-​Star Competition among 16 short film finalists from around the world, and singer/​songwriter LP and the LP Band’s Las Vegas debut held in conjunction with The Cosmopolitan at its Boulevard Pool. Tickets were free, and to my surprise the place was not overrun with attendees. I credit this to excellent planning by the event organizers and The Cosmopolitan to limit attendance to a manageable and comfortable number.
We stayed throughout the duration of this last session, from 8:00 p.m. through 12:45 a.m., after scoring a plush poolside lounge that enabled us to easily view in a semi-​reclined position the large horizontal screen over the stage, the stage itself, and the jumbo vertical screen that overlooked the pools. From this vantage point we saw all 16 nominated short films and the 1-​hour concert of LP. This was the first time Tropfest, the world’s largest short film festival, has appeared in Las Vegas. Based on our experience we will be attending in subsequent years. As an extra bonus we were able to see in person actors James Woods, Tobey McGuire of «Spiderman» and «Seabiscuit» fame, Anthony LaPaglia of «Without a Trace,» and Rebel Wilson of «Bridesmaids,» some of whom were serving as judges of the short films. They and other actors and film directors could be observed being interviewed and photographed by about 20 photographers on a black carpet with a nice Tropfest backdrop, and they later came on stage to announce the winner of the short film competition, «Bubbleboy.» Hot dogs, sausage sandwiches, and popcorn were available at very reasonable prices, in addition to a wide variety of alcoholic and non-​alcoholic beverages at the pool bars and through waiter service.
The 7-​minute films were inventive, very different from one another, and enjoyable to view. LP and her band were great, and rocked the place. About the only discordant note was host Rob Corddry, whose several attempts to be humorous with crude jokes and lame quips about private parts just fell flat and were not funny at all. And, his roasting of the judges and tourists on the street below came across more like insults. But other than that, and the very limited amount of available food choices during a long a span of time, attending this event was a great experience. We never would have remained for the entire session if it was not enjoyable from end to end. Props to Tropfest and The Cosmopolitan for hosting this fine free and excellent debut Vegas event that I understand is likely to be repeated here annually!