Tropfest was held at the Bowl of Brooklands, New Plymouth, in February and attracted a crowd of 3500 people.

The curtain has fallen on New Zealand's Tropfest short film festival - again.

Following continued issues with funding, organisers announced on Wednesday that the annual filmmaking event would not go ahead next year.

Taranaki Arts Festival Trust (Taft) chief executive Suzanne Porter said in lieu of securing a major sponsor, the charitable trust's board of trustees had made the decision not to continue.

GRANT MATTHEW/Fairfax NZ Finalists line during the awards ceremony at this year's Tropfest.

"To date Taft has invested a significant amount in Tropfest NZ and after a strategic review the decision has been made to focus our efforts on Taft's own festivals," Porter said.

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The same announcement was made by Taft, responsible for the Taranaki Arts Festival and Powerco Taranaki Garden Spectacular, a year ago regarding 2017's festival.

Andy Jackson Taranaki Arts Festival Trust chief executive Suzanne Porter says the 2017 festival features performers with international awards to their name.

Without a core funder the trust was left with little choice but to cancel the event.

However, it got a reprieve after Venture Taranaki Trust (VTT) and South Pacific Pictures agreed to come on board and the festival's fifth instalment went ahead after all in February, attracting a crowd of 3500 people who watched 16 short films at the TSB Bowl of Brooklands.

But Porter said even if major sponsorship was offered up Taft had already informed Tropfest International that it would not be renewing its licence to promote and present the festival in New Zealand.

Mark Taylor Bruce Gatwood Cook

The trust was already in the process of considering other events and Tropfest was not a part of this long-term planning.

Porter said most years the trust ran the event at a loss. Yearly costs were dependent on a number of items including the location, resources and licence fee.

"The festival doesn't have a box office to be supported by, making it reliant on sponsorship and funding. We have had several years where we came close to a break-even scenario but for the other years Taft has had to contribute to present the event."

Supplied John Polson of Tropfest.

New Plymouth filmmaker Bruce Gatward-Cook said the canning of the festival was a significant blow for the filmmaking community.

With his short film The Forgotten Astronaut he was a finalist in the festival's first year. He described his involvement as a "magical experience" and said the event offered a serious competition of quality filmmaking.

"And now we don't have that," he said.

Gatward-Cook said any event took a while to gain traction but wondered if potential sponsors were reluctant to offer up funding because it was not based in a main centre and so the viewing audience was limited.

"Potentially for it to survive it might have to go out of the region."

It's not the first time the event's survival has been pinned on moving it from New Plymouth.

Last year Porter said for Tropfest to continue in New Zealand it must be made attractive to a corner-stone sponsor who was prepared to underwrite the event.

She said it was more likely than not this sponsor would want to see the event staged in Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch for maximum exposure.

Porter said there was still an opportunity for another organisation to secure the rights to present Tropfest in New Zealand.

Founder and director John Polson said he hoped NZ filmmakers would not be deterred by the news.

Polson remained optimistic about the future of the festival in New Zealand and said he had "great faith" that it would one day return.

Tropfest Australia was open to international entries, so New Zealand filmmakers planning on submitting a film to Tropfest NZ could submit their entries to Tropfest Australia instead.