Your summer of Western Sydney stories starts here!
Updated: 11 hours ago
We were going to wait until tickets opened, but honestly? We can’t keep this line-up to ourselves any longer!
Made in the West Film Festival is turning 15, and we’re celebrating with 41 films, three bumper Sunday movie marathons and a whole summer of Western Sydney storytelling. The films are selected, the sessions are set, and it’s time to find out when YOUR favourites will light up the big screen.
We’re revealing our three marathon sessions at Event Cinemas Liverpool today, ahead of tickets opening on Monday 2 November. That gives you the weekend to explore the line-up, rally your friends and start planning your festival adventures.
And with tickets just $15 per session, why stop at one? Sunday afternoons just got a whole lot more fun.
There’s something wonderful about sitting in a cinema full of people discovering local films together. The laughter, the gasps, the familiar locations, the cheers when someone’s name appears in the credits.
That’s the Made in the West magic, and we’re bringing plenty of it to Liverpool this summer!
Each session is a bumper two-hour movie marathon, hosted by local podcaster and long-time festival host, Shetu Simone.
Thanks to our sponsors at Sydney Prop Specialists, we got to have some fun in their Warehouse Studio in Marrickville!
Shooting with long time festival and community supporter, Luke Walker Productions is the best! We spent the day capturing some beautiful content for your screens this summer, complete with live introductions, live crosses and a live vote!
Every film in this year’s Official Selection will screen once across these three sessions. For filmmakers, it’s your chance to gather the cast, crew, friends and family and enjoy your work the way it deserves to be seen. For audiences, it’s an invitation to discover just how much talent we have out West.
Here’s what’s coming your way.
Session # 1: WORLDS COLLIDE
Sunday 29 November | 3pm–5pm
Event Cinemas Liverpool | Tickets $15 | Bookings open Monday 2 November
Unlikely company. Unfamiliar worlds. Anything could happen.
Chance encounters, unlikely alliances and realities coming unstuck — this is what happens when different worlds meet. From awkward dates and fragile family bonds to dystopian futures and surreal surprises, this eclectic collection finds humour, heart and danger in the collision.
Expect awkward laughs, strange encounters and high-stakes adventures, with moments of unexpected tenderness. We’re kicking off our Sunday sessions with 17 films that will take you well outside the familiar!
Screening in Worlds Collide:
A Moment • Barbarians at the Gate • Bin Chicken Island • Dezo • Going Dark • Gone in a Blink • Nachtmahr • Night with a Stranger • Proper • Puppet People • Running in Heels • Sarah Jane & the Noise: Feels Like Yesterday • Still With You • Streaming Services • Sundown • The Bedouin & The Biplane • Tough Love
Get your people together for our first Sunday marathon, coming at you straight after Opening Night!
Session # 2: LIFE TAKES TURNS
Sunday 6 December | 3pm–5pm
Event Cinemas Liverpool | Tickets $15 | Bookings open Monday 2 November
Life rarely follows the script.
A familiar routine, a sudden change, a whole new direction. Through friendship, grief, cultural belonging and everyday passions, these films explore what anchors us when life shifts.
Backyard creativity and budding romance share the screen with strange encounters and imagined futures in this collection of 12 films. Expect warmth, humour and unsettling detours as everyday lives take extraordinary turns. You might laugh, you might tear up, and you might find something unexpectedly familiar along the way.
Screening in Life Takes Turns:
After Tonight • Ankles • Bats • Behind the Wheel • Deathsong • Do It Like Gary • Forged in the Garage • Nothing and the Sun • Retreat • St Johns Park: You're Wonderful • The Denouement of Archie Bishop • The Underpass
Take a Sunday detour through the tender, strange and surprising.
Session # 3: HEARTS AND MINDS
Sunday 13 December | 3pm–5pm
Event Cinemas Liverpool | Tickets $15 | Bookings open Monday 2 November
Big feelings. Busy minds. Being human is complicated.
Following your heart can be complicated — especially when your head has other ideas. From tentative romances and tangled friendships to personal struggles and powerful beliefs, these films explore the forces that shape our choices.
Our third marathon brings together 12 films filled with humour, vulnerability and imaginative storytelling. Come for the curious journeys through love, belief and self-discovery; leave with plenty to talk about afterwards.
Screening in Hearts and Minds:
Finding Joy • First Contact • Fracture • Manifesting You • Messenger of the Bees • Skirtless: Push & Pull • Strings Attached • The Circus Lion • They Persist • Wedding Day • Wonnarua • Year of the Snake
Follow your curiosity into the complicated business of being human.
Want to discover more about the films before choosing your sessions? Explore our Official Selection Films List, A–Z here.
Opening Night gets the celebrations started
Think red carpet photos, filmmaker interviews, familiar faces, new connections and the first awards of the season. We’re tallying the jury votes now, and the Opening Night screening line-up will be announced next week!
General admission is FREE for filmmakers and audiences, with paid VIP ticket options available for anyone wanting an extra special night.
Come and bump shoulders with the Western Sydney film community, along with festival sponsors, including Panavision, industry guilds, local studio owners and more.
Bring your friends, family, cast & crew and help us kick off a summer with Western Sydney filmmakers in the spotlight.
Then come back on Sunday as the full Official Selection begins its three-week rollout!
You watch. You vote. You help choose the winners.
Every film in the Official Selection is eligible for the People’s Choice Awards, and audiences at all cinema sessions and online will have the opportunity to vote.
So when a film makes you laugh, catches you off guard or stays with you long after the credits, show it some love! Your vote helps decide which films take home our audience awards at the end of the summer.
Filmmakers, this is your cue to rally your supporters. Bring them along, introduce them to the wider program and give them a reason to keep coming back for more.
The #SummerofFilm continues online and into February
Can’t make it to Liverpool? Got friends and family further afield?
From 15 December, our online MEGA Movie Marathon will bring a selection of Western Sydney films to viewers across Australia and around the world.
Online audiences get to vote for the People’s Choice Awards too, so there’s another way to join the celebrations wherever you are. We’ll share the online line-up and viewing details closer to the date.
Then, in February, we’re bringing fresh eyes to the program with a month of special guest-curated Film Showcases!
Three wonderful filmmakers and festival alumni will curate films from this year’s Official Selection, giving audiences another chance to discover local stories, and participating films another opportunity to reach new viewers.
We’re also working with new partner venue MTNS MADE to bring Western Sydney films to new audiences and spark conversations in the Blue Mountains. Keep an eye out for our guest curator announcements over the coming days, with showcase selections and further details to follow.
Big love to the people making it happen
Fifteen years of Made in the West means fifteen years of people backing local filmmakers, showing up for our community and helping these stories reach the screen.
Our sponsors and partners make so much of this possible, from the cinema experience to the prizes and opportunities that support filmmakers beyond the festival.
We’re grateful to have them celebrating this milestone with us!
Meet the wonderful organisations behind this year’s festival in our two latest blogs detailing our First Sponsors Announced and More Sponsors, More Opportunities for Western Sydney Filmmakers!
Tickets open Monday — get your crew ready!
Bookings open through Event Cinemas on Monday 2 November. Tickets are $15 per marathon session.
Find your films, choose your sessions and get the group chat going!
When bookings open, use the festival code MAD26 when booking through Event Cinemas. We’ll share direct booking links on our website and social channels as soon as tickets go live.
Whether you’re cheering on a mate, bringing the whole cast and crew, or discovering Western Sydney films for the first time, we want you in the room.
Three Sundays. Forty-one films. Fifteen years of celebrating the stories coming out of our region.
See you at the cinema, #FilmFam!