Made in the West Film Festival has a lot to be thankful for.
2020 has thrown us so many curve balls and as a result, we’ve had to hit the reset button on so many aspects of the festival and re-imagine what we do in order to knock a few balls out of the park.
Being at the cinema on Saturday 21 November for our double screening was just electric, with 250 people joining us for a night Western Sydney films. Seeing so many local filmmakers cheering for each other’s work is always one of the highlights for our team (and a very large part of WHY we do what we do!).
One week later on Saturday 28 November we took on the challenge bringing Made in the West to our festival fans around the world. For the first time ever, Made in the West Film Festival went live online for 24 hours and viewers across the country and around the world could watch Western Sydney films from their own home!
Still Searchin’ Productions would like to thank the people who helped us make Made in the West 2020 Online possible.
Jess and Holly, our wonderful hosts. What stars they are! Thank you for bringing the audience inside the cinema on the biggest night of the year for Western Sydney Film.
Dan and Vuk our camera operators and Daragh producer. Thank you for helping us capture the night for the online festival and red carpet highlights.
Luke from Luke Walker Productions. There was a huge amount of effort that went into preparing for and setting up on the day and we’re thankful for your support helping make this year our best yet.
Ross and Misty who executive produced the show, spent the week editing the final presentation in time for the online festival marathon one week later with short films, highlights and interviews, plus all the excitement we’ve come to expect from a quality SSP production.
Jay, Emily and Nat whose communication skills were put to good use on our festival news and social media pages, working to to keep everyone informed and prepared for the online festival.
The 28 finalist film makers in our 2020 Online Festival Program. We think this year’s festival films showed the world exactly what Western Sydney is made of -- pure heart and fierce determination.
The huge crew that assisted us in cinema on the night including volunteers Nataly, Kylie, Charu, Ennis, Regina, Sunshine, Pete & Jumana, plus our wonderful MC Laura B.
And last, but certainly not least, thanks to the entire team of contributors at Still Searchin’ Productions including Ross, Misty Jay, Casey, Nat, Emily, Steve, Hayden and Carissa. Your commitment to Made in the West has meant hundreds of local filmmakers have a dedicated space to share their stories on the big screen and now, they have a place on a national and international stage.
Please put your hands together for this amazing team of people who brought you the inaugural Made in the West Online Film Festival. Bravo!!
As you know, Made in the West Film Festival is also incredibly grateful for the support offered by our in-cinema crew, major sponsors, festival judges and prize sponsors.
We can’t wait to return in 2021 with even more amazing films and local supporters on our side. We’ll be celebrating our 10th birthday next year so it’s going to be our biggest year yet, we’re sure of it!
And by the way, if you’re reading this and you think you’d like to work with us next year at Made in the West and contribute your time or talent to the event, get in touch with us! We’re always happy to hear from new collaborators.
Thanks everyone for another great year of Western Sydney films and we’ll see you 2021.
SSP