The inaugural Made in the West Online FIlm Festival wrapped earlier today after a huge night of Western Sydney films shared across the globe!
We had our first wave of viewers in Sydney and the east coast of Australia during the afternoon, then Made in the West were up on screens on the west coast of WA, then a few hours later we reached the UK and by the morning we were being viewed in the USA!!
We’re over the moon to have been able to share Western Sydney films to a global audience for the first time ever. Thank you to everyone who attended!
Of course, you were all asked to vote for your favourite film at the end of the show -- one final award that combined the audience votes from our final two screenings of the year!!
We’ve counted the votes and we’re ready to announce the 2020 People’s Choice Award Winner!
Put your hands together and let’s hear it for:
2020 People’s Choice Award WINNER
Black Cat by Alan Nguyen
Nominee for Best Sound Design and Best Actor and Winner 2020 Audience Choice Award
*cue applause*
Congratulations to Alan and the cast and crew involved in this hilarious short film production. It seems that our festival audiences BOTH in-cinema AND online loved Black Cat and it’s easy to see why!
We loved it too!
Still Searchin’ Productions would like to congratulate everyone who entered their film in the 2020 festival and particularly, the 28 finalists whose films were screened at each of our three festival screenings.
You each contributed to a fabulous festival experience for so many people (including us!) and we applaud you for making such bold, engaging and heartfelt films.
2020 was definitely a challenging year! We had to rethink everything, from screening in two cinemas, to hosting a Covid-safe festival, to planning and getting ready for the 2020 Online Festival -- there was so much that we learned and so much we are thankful for.
You certainly rose to the occasion Western Sydney! We've finished this year on a high with a fantastic celebration of the talent, resilience and determination of our awesome filmmaker community.
Fun fact: Did you know that this year we screened our 250th local film in the festival line-up? After 9 years running Made in the West we can tell you that feels pretty great!
Next year we'll have a lot to say about all the wonderful years of films that have led us to this point. We’re ready to celebrate TEN YEARS of Western Sydney Film and we hope you’ll be keen to celebrate with us too.
That’s right, we’ll be celebrating our 10TH BIRTHDAY next year at Made in the West Film Festival!! Can you believe it?
We’ve got some big plans, so watch this space…
And start making your next movie! We love your work Western Sydney filmmakers and we can’t wait to see what you have in store for us next year.
What’s next for Made in the West and SSP, you ask?
We’ll be hosting another Western Sydney Film online networking event in the new year, so stay tuned for date announcements coming soon. It’ll be good to catch up with you all after the holidays and hear everyone’s filmmaking plans for 2021.
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