After 20 years hosting of Tropfest in Australia, and other locales globally, founder and director John Polson brought it to New York in 2012, complete with Hugh Jackman as host. The “reviews” were excellent. More than 10,000 people gathered at Bryant Park, guaranteeing a follow-up this year and beyond.

• Related: FishbowlNY, Tropfest Comes to New York

Films will be judged live by a panel of esteemed celebrities for a chance at the $20,000 prize.

For now, though, start shooting your movie, with your camera or even a phone. Each film must follow certain criteria: not to exceed seven minutes in length, be a world premiere (including online), and contain this year’s Tropfest signature item, “bridge.”

Entries must be received by May 9. Tropfest takes place on June 22.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

What’s that old saying, “sex sells”?  In the past month People magazine provided some strong evidence to back that credo by raising over $218,000 for charity through their “Sexiest Man Alive” auctions.  People partnered up with online charity auction leader charitybuzz, to offer readers a chance to bid on once-in-a-lifetime experiences with the sexiest men featured in their pages over the past 25 years.  The bidding ran from Nov. 17 through Dec. 15 and all proceeds benefited the celebrity’s preferred charity.

The highest bid of all the “Sexiest Man Alive” auctions was for the chance to meet Prince William at the Chakravarty Cup Polo Match.  Other experiences included a swimming lesson with Michael Phelps and a tickets to a Bon Jovi concert along with a meet-and-greet.  Some other celebrities that participated include Hugh Jackman, Bradley Cooper, and Ricky Martin.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

As of this afternoon, bids for the Murdoch lunch had already reached $10,500.  Murdoch’s wife, Wendi, served as co-chair at last week’s Global Poverty Project’s film premiere party and made the initial call for this highly sought-after donation.

Murdoch isn’t the only big name to participate in the 1.4 Billion Reasons campaign.  Star of the X-Men film series, Hugh Jackman, is offering fans a chance to “Workout with Wolverine” as he shapes up for X-Men Origins: Wolverine 2.  Also, celebrity chef Jean-Georges is putting his cooking services up for auction as well as a special dinner for six.

Bidding for some face time with Murdoch is open through Nov. 11 and can be done at charitybuzz.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Last week, New York Post theater columnist Michael Riedel revealed that Oxfeld would be assuming the critic’s role at The New York Observer, after the paper’s longtime theater critic John Heilpern stepped down from his post.

Oxfeld, a self-proclaimed “theater obsessive,” told FishbowlNY that he “fell backwards” into the Observer‘s critic spot, “which is ridiculous and fun and a classic Broadway plotline,” he said.

Earlier this year, Oxfeld jumped at the chance to do theater coverage for the Observer as part of the paper’s plan to expand its culture coverage under new editor Tom McGeveran. But since the summer is a slow time in the theater world, Oxfeld only had the chance to write one review before Heilpern decided to depart. Now instead of playing second fiddle to Heilpern, Oxfeld will primarily take on meaty Broadway show reviews.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

— DIANE CLEHANE

Our invitation to tonight’s party for Joel Grey hosted by Hugh Jackman and his wife, Deborah Lee Furness, must have gotten lost in the mail. Oh well. The dining room was jam-packed with the Wednesday regulars in action, so there was plenty to keep us entertained. I was also happy to catch up with some pals I hadn’t seen in a while. When my friend Andre Leon Talley swept through the door resplendent in a rose-hued Prada coat and “raspberry velvet” custom-made Manolo Blahnik sandals, I was thrilled that he had time for a chat before joining George Malkemus for lunch.

I just had to ask him what he thought about Morley Safer‘s segment on Anna Wintour that aired on 60 Minutes a few weeks back. “I was really impressed with their research,” said Andre, who reported that the show spent weeks at Vogue‘s offices and trekked to Europe for the collections to cover Anna in action and get many of fashion’s most famous faces to weigh in on her decades-long reign at the style bible. We both agreed that Morley sounded a wee bit contemptuous of the players and the game. The newsman’s occasional barbs thrown into the piece — including an observation that Karl Lagerfeld dressed like Count Dracula (“He’s had that look for eight years!”) and that all Vogue‘s young staffers have to be skinny — were “a bit dismissive,” said Andre. (I did love when Anna said that on a recent trip to Minnesota she found most of the folks resembled “little houses.”) Andre reports Anna was “thrilled” with the piece. “It’s 60 Minutes — she was on the same show as Secretary Gates. It was fabulous,” proclaimed Andre.

Today, he was taking a break between the resort presentations that designers were hosting around town in their showrooms this week. “The resort shows are fabulous,” he reports. “It’s become a much more interesting season where people are really doing some fabulous things.” Among the highlights so far: Diane von Furstenberg‘s “Going to Rio”-inspired collection with everything a girl needs all packed into one bag (“It’s her best collection in three years”), Zac Posen‘s ruched silk lame jeans and “major” shoes — especially the sexy lace d’Orsay numbers. Andre also gave high marks to Michael Kors‘ batik prints. “There are a lot of great clothes and great items that women will want to buy.” Music to a lot of retailers’ ears, no doubt.

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. Conde Nast’s Lou Cona and the dashing Daniel Lalonde, president and CEO of Louis Vuitton, presiding over a table full of movers and shakers.

2. Peter Brown

3. Judith Verno

4. Stephen Swid and a blonde gal we didn’t recognize

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The show, hosted by Brett Erlich and Ellen Fox, premieres on Thursday and will incorporate user interaction and rely heavily on a Web component in addition to the TV program. Also, the hosts (perhaps feeling a tad inspired by Hugh Jackman‘s Oscar Grammy-like performance) tell us you might be able to expect some musical numbers and most definitely haiku reviews! Go here for more info on what to see, and how to contribute, and to add your two cents regarding Chris Klein‘s emoting abilities (or lack thereof).

You can listen to the past podcasts at BlogTalkRadio.com/mediabistro and call in at 646-929-0321. On tomorrow’s “Menu”: Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski of MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

— DIANE CLEHANE

As I’ve been reporting for weeks, it was SRO at Michael’s today as the movers and shakers, undeterred by the unsettling economic news, were out in full force plotting their next big move — or looking for a safe place to land. On the menu today: plenty of talk about President Barack Obama‘s speech last night and the Oscars. There was a strong consensus that one was a big winner, while the other got surprisingly mixed reviews. While everyone in the audience on Oscar night thought Hugh Jackman killed, plenty of folks here were less than impressed. “Movie people don’t like Broadway,” sniped one Hollywood insider. “And it was too Broadway.” Okay then…

Everyone I talked to about President Obama’s speech felt his oratory skills are nothing short of amazing and that he struck just the right tone where he basically told us its time to pay the piper and think of our children’s future. Personally, I was impressed at his unflappable ability to mix his formal and seemingly off-the-cuff remarks with ease — and he didn’t even blink when he forgot to follow protocol and let House Speaker Nancy Pelosi introduce him. She had to stop him mid-sentence, but he never faltered. Talk about cool under pressure. But here’s what wowed the women in the dining room — his affectionate introduction of the First Lady Michelle Obama and her mouthing, ‘I love you’ back to her smitten husband. “They’re marriage is obviously hot,” one divorcee told me. I’m telling you, no one wants to admit it, but that’s what people are really talking about.

As for the president’s remarks, “Inspirational but realistic,” is how one media summed things up. Others were scratching their heads asking why Wall Street wasn’t feeling the same way. More than one person said, “With everyone feeling a little bit hopeful, I don’t get why the market is down.” (It had dropped by more than 100 points by lunch). A question for the ages, no doubt.

On a much lighter note, I asked the always dapper Dr. Gerald Imber what he thought of the Botox-ed beauties on Oscar’s red carpet. But this plastic surgeon to the stars never cuts and tells — “I didn’t watch,” he confessed. He laughed when I asked him why he’d pass up the chance to admire his handiwork and did offer his assessment on why movie stars make better plastic surgery patients than mere mortals: “They come in with headshots saying, ‘I’ve changed a little here, I want to fix this here.’ They know what they want. There’s no whining.”

Here’s the rundown on today’s crowd:

1. The ‘Imber Gang’: Dr. Gerald Imber, Jerry Della Femina and Andy Bergman. Here’s a fun fact: A little birdie told me that Andy wrote the screenplay for Blazing Saddles. Now you know…

2. Hallmark honcho Henry Schleiff with two other well-dressed fellows

3. No one puts a lunch together like ‘The Mayor’: Joe Armstrong, Glamour editrix Cindi Leive, George Stevens and Kerry Kennedy. I was thrilled to meet George (who was sporting a very patriotic red, white and blue shirt and tie ensemble). He’s the man behind the television broadcast of the Kennedy Center Honors and the amazing broadcast of the concert on the Mall in celebration of President Obama’s inauguration. Kerry and I met once before at a lunch given by Henry Schleiff in this very dining room, where we talked about her then yet-to-published book, Being Catholic Now. I was so fascinated by her interviews with the likes of Bill Maher and Gabriel Byrne (who spoke about being abused by a priest) that I got through the terrific tome twice. Today the conversation was all about how stirring and inspirational the group found the president’s speech last night. “It made me proud to be an American,” Kerry told me. And we both totally melted over the young school girl who was seated next to the First Lady having written to the White House looking for aid for her school, which is in a serious state of disrepair. “I had tears in my eyes,” said Kerry. She wasn’t the only one…

4. An early-arriving Matt Blank who chatted with Joe and I before The New Yorker‘s David Remnick and Lisa Hughes joined Showtime’s head honcho for lunch. I was happy to reconnect with Lisa. Way back when, she was my sales rep at Self when I was the marketing honcho for a fashion company. I knew then that Lisa was destined for big things at Conde Nast, and she’s risen through the ranks like the pro she is. Well done and congrats!

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

In a move that is hard to not smack of desperation, at least for cynical media bloggers, Condé Nast is rolling out another elaborate ad campaign touting the importance of — nay, passion readers have for — its print magazines. The title of the campaign? “The Point of Passion: An ongoing exhibit by Condé Nast.” Of course.

You’ll recall Condé launched “Point of Passion” in 2005 with “typical” readers.

In this one, eight-page inserts will feature magazine-clutching celebrities in various states of print enjoyment, alongside tag lines like “It’s not a magazine, it’s a muse.” (That’s the subtitle for Mary-Louise Parker‘s gaze for the New Yorker.)

For Wired, Sir Richard Branson lies cradled in a chair aboard Virgin Galactic’s future SpaceShipTwo, reading; the line reads, “Part magazine. Part co-pilot.”

Others slated to appear in future “Passion” spots: Diane Von Furstenberg (Vanity Fair), Patrick Dempsey (Details), Burberry designer Christopher Bailey (Men.style.com), Eva Longoria (Glamour), Giada de Laurentis (Bon Appetit), Terence Howard (GQ), supermodel Natalia Vodianova (Vogue), Andre Balazs (Concierge.com), Marc Jacobs (Style.com), Zoey Kravitz and Lorraine Nicholson (Teen Vogue), Sheryl Crow (Self), Hugh Jackman (Men’s Vogue), Jim Nantz (Golf Digest), Preston Bailey (Brides.com), Greg Norman (Golf World).