The short-film festival, which began in a Darlinghurst cafe in Sydney’s east, has announced it is spreading its wings in its 25th year and moving to Parramatta.

Mad Max director and Tropfest board member George Miller and Jurassic Park actor Sam Neill attended the announcement on Monday at Parramatta Park, the festival’s new home for the next three years.

It’s not the first move for the festival.

It started in Tropicana Cafe in Darlinghurst but expanded to be screened in Rushcutters Bay, Sydney’s Domain and then most recently Centennial Park.

Miller praised Tropfest for its vision and helping to launch the careers of Australian film luminaries such as actor/director brothers Joel and Nash Edgerton.

“It’s absolutely an incubator [of talent],” Miller said at the announcement in Parramatta Park.

“There was a maverick grassroots approach to Tropfest and it was always really important that it would be free to the audience who came, and it’s quite extraordinary that the vision has remained the same,” Miller said.

“I’ve worked with several people who have had their films shown at Tropfest. It’s a wellspring of talent.”

Last year, CGU Insurance stepped in and sponsored the festival to make sure Tropfest could go ahead after it faced financial trouble.

Tropfest will take place next in the Cattle Paddocks, a four-hectare area in Parramatta Park with a 70,000 capacity.

“After extensive research and soul-searching, as well as looking to international festivals such as Sundance and Cannes for inspiration, we’ve recognised our desire to have a destination we could fully embrace and call our own. Tropfest needed a fresh base where it can be nurtured, expand, and eventually become a multi-event festival,” Tropfest founder John Polson said from the set of New York TV show Elementary.

“Moving Tropfest to Parramatta also puts us firmly in the geographical heart of Sydney, which is the perfect place for the world’s most exciting and accessible film event.”