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!