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Writer's pictureMade in the West Film Festival

Announcing the 2021 award nominees!

Still Searchin' Productions is proud to announce the nominees for this year’s individual category awards!

21 Official Selection films are in the running to win one of two major trophies – the ‘Best in the West’ Award (for independent films) or the ‘Best Student Film’ – awarded to those films that receive the top scores overall from our panel of judges.


PLUS we’re adding a fresh NEW trophy to the table this year for the inaugural Best Music Video award -- we’re so excited!!


Western Sydney musicians and filmmakers collaborating on creative projects is something we’re really passionate about, so we are super stoked to be celebrating the work of these local artists this year.


Which of our seven finalist music videos will take out the top honour this year? Reserve your ticket to the festival and find out!

To make it even more interesting, each year we also ask our judges to nominate the films that demonstrate excellence in the following categories: Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer, Best Editor, Best Sound Design, Best Original Score, Best Lead Actor and Best Supporting Actor.


We’ve also added a new category this year to recognise Best Production Design - after all, great production design can make a huge difference to the quality of our films. We’ve noticed some amazing effort in recent years going into costuming, set design and props, so we want to recognise the great work of our emerging production designers.


So many awards! So many talented filmmakers. We can’t wait.


Fun fact: We have more nominations for cast & crew this year than ever before!


Congratulations, Western Sydney filmmakers -- you’ve truly brought your A-game this year and we’re super excited by all the nods you’ve got from the judges.


With so many films getting nominated in each category, it’s going to be a HUGE win for whoever takes home the top awards.

Will one film take home a huge swag like last year??


All we can say is, thank goodness the judges are the ones deciding this year’s winners, because there’s simply no way that we could ever decide!!


BUT… we can’t leave it ALL up to the judges now, can we??


We’re here to tell you that the final judge at Made in the West is YOU!


That’s right, the winner of our highly coveted ‘Audience Choice Award’ is voted by our live audience on the night.


Decided by a room of your filmmaker peers, this glorious trophy will be a particularly sweet victory for one lucky filmmaker... and before you can say “last drinks”, we'll tally the votes and announce the winner!

And don’t forget, if you can’t make it to the festival this year, there’s still one final award you can be part of…


Join us at Made in the West Online Film Festival one week later (10-12 December) and we’ll be asking all the viewers at home to vote too!


We’ll gather the votes from our entire audience across the globe then announce the winner of the 2021 People’s Choice Award online for everyone to see.


So... is the suspense killing you yet? Well, we won’t keep you waiting any longer!


Made in the West is proud to announce the nominees for the 2021 individual category awards:


BEST DIRECTOR NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Alex Dona

Apology: Jei Young & Líl Ním - Mitchell Webb-Leifi

Good As Gold: Esky - Victor Tran

Intelligent Design - Ben Mizzi

Jane - Noel Vinson

Kind Enough to Wait: Bohifale - Lawrence Ola

Midnight Stories: Morgan - Ryan Cauchi

Operation Kung Flu - Maria Tran

Refused Classification - Chris Elena

Remember My Name: Hashtags - Sonny Vrebac

Stick It - Dom Colucci, Jacinta Kezelos and Tom McGill

The Detection: Vengeance - Ryan Percy

Towel Head - Sereen Omran

Transition - Cat Sole

Vanilla Skies: GET THA GAT - Michael Restifo

We're Family: Rosita Vai and Lady Lyric - Gabriel Faatau'uu-Satiu and Sandra Falesita

What You See: Parvyn - Bina Bhattacharya

YÉYÉ - Laneikka Denne


BEST SCREENPLAY NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Alex Dona

Intelligent Design - Ben Mizzi

Jane - Noel Vinson

Midnight Stories: Morgan - Ryan Cauchi and Nick Stathopoulos

Operation Kung Flu - Elizabeth Vu

Refused Classification - Chris Elena and Bradford Elmore

Stick It - Jacinta Kezelos and Tom McGill

The Detection: Vengeance - Luca Pezzutti

Tossers - Ibrahim Faraj and Cat Sole

Towel Head - Sereen Omran

Toy Boy - Nicole Delprado

Transition - Cat Sole


BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Nicolas Nalbandian

Good As Gold: Esky - Jason Queue

Jane - Robert C. Morton

Kind Enough to Wait: Bohifale - Aravind Shanavaz

Operation Kung Flu - Adam McPhilbin

Refused Classification - Kym Vaitiekus

Remember My Name: Hashtags - Luke Walker

The Detection: Vengeance - Harrison Joyce

Towel Head - Irisha Adnyana

Toy Boy - Kent Marcus and Carmen Smith

Transition - Rasmus Callmer

Vanilla Skies: GET THA GAT - Elijah Flores

What You See: Parvyn - Amy Dellar


BEST EDITOR NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Alex Dona

Apology: Jei Young & Líl Ním - Mitchell Webb-Leifi

Good As Gold: Esky - Victor Tran

Jane - Noel Vinson and Abel Robinson

Midnight Stories: Morgan - Ryan Cauchi

Operation Kung Flu - Therese Chen, Maria Tran and Takashi Hara

Stick It - Dom Colucci

The Detection: Vengeance - Luca Pezzutti

Towel Head - John Klincke

Toy Boy - Michelle St. Claire

Transition - Jamie Murray and Ibrahim Faraj

Vanilla Skies: GET THA GAT - Jashwin Prasad

We're Family: Rosita Vai and Lady Lyric - Del-Ray Fruean


BEST SOUND DESIGN NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Nathaniel Watkins

Intelligent Design - Stewart Melville

Jane - Gordon Fletcher

Operation Kung Flu - Takashi Hara

Remember My Name: Hashtags - Jai Pyne

Stick It - Matthew Colucci

The Detection: Vengeance - Robert Hart

Tossers - Ibrahim Faraj

Towel Head - Michael Restifo

Transition - John Hresc

YÉYÉ - Dexter Cave


BEST ORIGINAL SCORE NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Edward Hampton

Intelligent Design - Michael Laidler

Jane - Matthew Hamm

Midnight Stories: Morgan - Me-Lee Hay

Operation Kung Flu - Darren Lim

Refused Classification - Nerida Tyson-Chew

The Detection: Vengeance - Robert Hart

Towel Head - Sereen Omran

Toy Boy - Jenna Pratt

YÉYÉ - Kailesh Reitmans


BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Jessica Stirnemann

Cunts Fucked: Plants - Shaye Fox

Good As Gold: Esky - Jason Queue

Intelligent Design - Ben Mizzi

Jane - Monique Deus

Operation Kung Flu - Quyen Chung

Refused Classification - Jessica Stirnemann

Remember My Name: Hashtags - Sarah Foukas

The Detection: Vengeance - Luca Pezzutti

Towel Head - Eileen Kenny and Paramy Ratsabouth

Toy Boy - Catherine Rynne

Vanilla Skies: GET THA GAT - Tara Sriharan

What You See: Parvyn - Samantha Gan


BEST LEAD ACTOR NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Kerstyn Walsh

Intelligent Design - Brittanie Shipway

Jane - Jacki Mison

Midnight Stories: Morgan - Hannah Raven

Operation Kung Flu - Maria Tran

Refused Classification - Gabrielle Scawthorn

Remember My Name: Hashtags - Justine Kacir

Stick It - Dominic Colucci

The Detection: Vengeance - Darren George

Towel Head - Safia Arain

Toy Boy - Allie Grant

Transition - Alex King

YÉYÉ - Charlotte Robertson


BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEES

A Girl's Best Friend - Michael Becker

Intelligent Design - Neel Kolhatkar

Jane - Roger Ward

Midnight Stories: Morgan - Laneikka Denne

Operation Kung Flu - Ross Page

Refused Classification - Bernie Van Tiel

Remember My Name: Hashtags - Cheyne Fynn

The Detection: Vengeance - Sophie Parr

Towel Head - Sidney Lloyd



Congratulations to all of the amazing cast & crew involved in producing this year's top 21 films and best of luck to all our nominees in their individual prize category awards!


So, are you ready to get your ticket to the festival? What are you waiting for?!



Want to find out more about this year's event? You can read about Made in the West 2021 here.


See you on the red carpet soon, Western Sydney!

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