Enlisting local businesses and industry allies is an important part of our mission: to raise awareness of the creative community in Western Sydney, celebrate the talents of our local artists and spotlight the authentic stories being told right here in the West.
Put your hands together for these local champions who are putting their money where their hearts are by offering their unwavering support to #WesternSydneyFilm.
By standing strong with Made in the West they're not just endorsing our local film community, they're also shouting it from the rooftops for all to hear!
So here we are telling everyone about their pledges to Made in the West this year and our heartfelt gratitude for their unwavering support of our ground-breaking grassroots festival.
You can show your appreciation by visiting their websites and giving them a hearty thumbs-up on social media, and also by keeping them top of mind the next time you're in need of a helping hand – for your next shoot, your next film screening, or your next qualification.
And today's major sponsors are just the tip of the iceberg; there's a whole parade of prize sponsors soon to be unveiled as we approach the 2023 festival – stay tuned for more updates!
So let's come together to give a resounding THANK YOU to these exceptional individuals, their organisations, and the contribution they make to keeping Made in the West here for the community.
Please put your hands together for…
EVENT CINEMAS LIVERPOOL
Event Cinemas is a HUGE supporter of the Western Sydney film community, providing us with a dedicated space in their V-max cinema to screen locally made films. Each year, we can't help but feel a rush of gratitude as we reflect on the incredible opportunity we have to showcase our Western Sydney-made lineup at Event Cinemas. Picture this: theatre-style seating for a whopping 330 film enthusiasts, state-of-the-art digital projection, and a fully licensed private cocktail bar. The setting is truly a filmmaker's dream! Check out their hire packages for your next screening!
To top it all off, they’ve got a fantastic team that is committed to working with Made in the West and supporting the local film community. We love Event Cinemas Liverpool and we can’t wait to bring the festival to life with them this year – it’s going to be great!
WESTERN SYDNEY UNIVERSITY
WSU School of Humanities and Communications Arts has signed on again this year as our Gold+ Screen Sponsor and their contribution to the festival means SO much to Made in the West and the work we do connecting and celebrating the local film industry. WSU has been working with the team at Made in the West this year to provide industry experience and connections for students in their popular Creative Industries and Communication Arts degrees.
WSU students Danielle Nguyen and Darcy Carroll are working with us right now on Marketing and Publicity Internships, budding filmmaker Adyan Alsaboory has taken on our new Production Internship role, and Design student Louisa Le recently won our 2023 poster competition. We’ve had a great time working with everyone this year!
If you are a WSU student and you want to work with us as a camera assistant or FOH ushers at the festival this year, send us an email!
LUKE WALKER PRODUCTIONS
Luke Walker Productions isn't just a sponsor, they’re like family to our festival and the Western Sydney film community. We're super excited that Luke and his crew are set to capture all the glitz and glamour at our festival event!
We love seeing Western Sydney filmmakers shine in the spotlight and with Luke's incredible arsenal of cameras, lights, and expertise, he will be capturing all the excitement of the festival experience for our online audience, as well as all the highlights from the red carpet. It's a massive hooray in the making!
And the cherry on top of that? Luke Walker is also contributing an amazing DOP package to our prize haul this year, which we’re awarding to the 2023 Audience Choice Award winner!! We are thankful to Luke for his ongoing support and we love his work. You can check out the Luke Walker Productions online portfolio here.
AFTRS
Australian Film, Television and Radio School (AFTRS) aims to find and empower Australian talent, and to shape and share their stories with the world by delivering industry-relevant and future-focused education, research and training.
Their courses are informed and taught by top industry practitioners and combine theory and practice to develop industry ready graduates.They offer great opportunities for all kinds of skill development in their highly respected postgraduate Masters for Arts Screen courses and also a wide range of short courses including Introduction to Assistant Directing, Screenwriting, or Premiere Pro and Voice Over Fundamentals.
The school finds, develops and supports Australian storytelling talent all the way from early inspiration to the highest levels of professional practice, helping build the stories that connect, surprise and move us all. AFTRS are major industry supporters, and huge supporters of Indigenous artists, artists with disability, and artists from Western Sydney.
AFTRS are returning sponsors to Made in the West Festival this year and we are so happy to have them on board. It means a lot that they can see the benefit in what we’re up to here, elevating stories from the Western Sydney film scene, and we warmly welcome their contribution to our event costs.
STILL SEARCHIN' PRODUCTIONS
Still Searchin' Productions are the team that founded Made in the West Film Festival back in 2012 and they are strong advocates for Western Sydney filmmakers. The team at SSP still coordinate the festival event and its crew, plus they create all the promotional video content for the festival. They're huge fans of the Western Sydney film scene and they've loved seeing local filmmakers thrive and shine in recent years.
SSP is also one of our amazing prize sponsors and this year they're contributing to the biggest prize pool ever by pitching in equipment, podcast sessions with The Pagey Train and a Foley & ADR package with Ross, who happens to be one of the best people around to know when you've got a sound issue with your latest film and you need it fixed. As always, the team at SSP are the ones that make the magic happen and we thank them!
MADE IN THE WEST CREATIVE
Made in the West CREATIVE is a creative and commercial content production agency that mobilises the amazing creative network of filmmakers and artists we have in our region and the relationships we've built with so many wonderful organisations in our community through the festival, to create informative, accessible and inspiring content that centres Western Sydney at its heart. We've taken on the job to plan, promote and produce Made in the West each year, supporting the event costs and all filmmaker awards. We will continue to shine a spotlight on Western Sydney Film and it is our pleasure to uplift and amplify the many talented artists who call Western Sydney home.
We also work with galleries and institutions across Sydney to find opportunities to screen locally made films at arts and cultural events and exhibitions. We know that Western Sydney films deserve to be seen and celebrated on a bigger stage in Australia (and across the world!), so this year we are thrilled to be able to make that happen with our fourth annual Online Movie Marathon. Through Vimeo On Demand, you can now watch Made in the West's annual movie marathon from home over the summer!
Since 2020, we have also been connecting our film community online, networking with Western Sydney filmmakers at our interactive online networking events – we love hosting them throughout the year! This year we even took our networking skills on the road to host the Indie Filmmaker Meetup at SXSW Sydney! Better connecting and developing the artist networks and bringing industry opportunities to the arts & cultural community here in the West is part of our mission over the coming decade.
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Let’s hear it for these six awesome festival sponsors!
These heroes support a BIG vision for future creatives in Western Sydney and they’re keen to see the festival grow and help build a buzzing local film scene. We think they deserve a medal for supporting local creatives from Western Sydney!
If you know a local business that might like to support Western Sydney’s growing film scene by donating a prize to the festival or offering financial support, please contact us! We're always happy to hear from potential supporters :)
These days, you can find us on Instagram, Facebook or say g’day via our website.
We’ll be announcing more sponsors and prizes throughout the coming week, so keep an eye out for some awesome prize info!!
And of course, submissions close this Friday, so if you have made a film featuring cast, crew or locations from Western Sydney, now is your chance to get in the 2023 line-up!!
Enter your film now to see your film on the huge Vmax cinema screen and walk the red carpet with hundreds of other local filmmakers!
Made in the West Film Festival will be held on Saturday 25 November at Event Cinemas, Liverpool. Doors open at 6pm. SAVE THE DATE!