What a fabulous time we had at the 2015 Made in the West Film Festival – with an impressive line up of films and plenty of awesome young filmmakers in attendance, we think it was one of the best yet!
Still Searchin’ Productions would like to congratulate all the entrants in this year’s event and particularly, the 18 finalists that had their films screened on the night – you each contributed to a great night of film watching and we take our hats off to you.
Made in the West Film Festival is dedicated to supporting emerging filmmakers in Western Sydney (if you are a filmmaker in Western Sydney we want to hear about the work you do – see below for the link to our filmmaker survey!). We love seeing all the great short films being made each year and recognising Western Sydney on the big screen.
And that’s why we don’t have any rules about what kind of films you can enter into the festival. We welcome any genre – we just want you to tell great stories that audiences will enjoy! In 2015, Made in the West Film Festival screened documentary films, dramas, music videos, comedy shorts, art house films, and even a little film noir.
Finalists were nominated for individual category awards that were announced throughout the night, based on the judges’ recommendations. This year’s winners were:
BEST DIRECTOR – Andrew Lee for 'Eric' BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER – Andrew Lin for 'The Dead Man’s Face Was My Own' BEST EDITOR – Vonne Patiag for 'The Dead Man’s Face Was My Own' BEST SOUND DESIGN – Anthony Aston for 'The Little Things' BEST ACTRESS – Genevieve Fricker for 'The Dead Man’s Face Was My Own' BEST ACTOR – Daniel Webber for 'Eric'
All finalists were also in the running for major trophies and prizes, thanks in part to our wonderful sponsors, Green Key Studios and Western Sydney Uni. The night was made even more special with TVS Television Sydney in the room for red carpet interviews – stay tuned for the highlights reel to come!
Of course, the room erupted with cheers as the final winners were announced – and we are proud to list them here for your reading pleasure:
2015 Runner-up Best Student Film: 'Midnight Animals' by Alex Maclean (Nominated for Best Director, Best Cinematographer & Best Sound Design)
2015 Best Student Film WINNER: 'Clarté De L’âme' by Emma Elias (Nominated for Best Director, Best Cinematographer, Best Editor & Best Actor)
2015 Runner up Best in the West: 'Sidetrack Theatre: The Path Unwinding' by Nawal Abdi (Nominated for Best Director, Best Cinematographer & Best Editor)
2015 Best in the West WINNER: 'The Dead Man’s Face Was My Own' by Vonne Patiag (Nominated for Best Director, Best Cinematographer (WINNER), Best Editor (WINNER), Best Sound Design, Best Actor, Best Actress (WINNER))
Both judges and attendees commented on the quality of films in the line-up, and tensions were high as the final votes were being counted for the highly coveted Audience Choice Award. But there could only be one...
2015 Audience Choice Award WINNER: The Goat by Toby Loveday (Nominated for Best Director, Best Editor & Best Sound Design) *cue applause*
Congratulations again to the 2015 finalists and thank you to all who were in attendance. We hope you enjoyed your night and we will see you next year at Made in the West 2016!!
Signed,
The SSP Team. --
