It’s finally time!! After a HUGE summer of streaming fun, it’s time to celebrate the final awards of the 2022 season and the winners of our online awards.
This year was the third annual online screening of Made in the West Film Festival and we’ve LOVED seeing local films streaming throughout summer, from the start of December last year through to Valentine’s Day of this year (because we know how much people LOVE local films), we’ve been watching the votes come in for the online awards!
Hosted by Prudence Bernadette, this year’s online film festival featured 19 short films made by Western Sydney filmmakers plus interviews with filmmakers, cast and crew which we filmed live on festival night at Event Cinemas (Liverpool) with our wonderful red carpet host, Shetu Simone!
We saw a huge increase in viewership this year (nearly 6 times over!) from audiences on the east and west coasts of Australia, as well as from family, friends and fans far and wide in the UK, EU, Asia and USA. We were over the moon to be able to share Western Sydney films to a global audience again!
Everyone who watched the show was asked to vote for their favourite film and for the first time ever, to also vote for a new selection of genre awards including Best Documentary, Animation, Web Series, Horror, Drama, Sci Fi and Comedy.
We were super excited to see the results!!
To celebrate, we announced the winners today in a live episode of the Pagey Train podcast, with everyone’s favourite podcast host Roscoe leading the charge as we chatted about the winning films and what’s to come for Made in the West this year.
Let’s hear it for the inaugural genre award winners:
Best Horror WINNER
Things That Go Bump: Machine on a Break
Submitted by Luke Agius
Best Sci Fi WINNER
Because of Ava
Submitted by Laura Bucci
Best Drama WINNER
Leopard
Submitted by Kamil Domaradzki
Best Comedy WINNER
Hello My Name is Mother Nature
Submitted by Pamela Manos
Best Animation WINNER
Bogan Moths
Submitted by Pete Ireland
Best Documentary WINNER
Arco’s World
Submitted by Kasey Medeiros
Best Web Series WINNER
Domesticated
Submitted by Valentin Lang
Congratulations to you all!
It takes some bold filmmaking skills to bring an idea to life on screen and at the same time still remain faithful to a genre, and this year’s films did not disappoint!
And of course, as always, there is one major award to top them all – the annual People’s Choice Award celebrates the most popular film among the ENTIRE online audience…
We’ve tallied the votes and we’re excited to announce the 2022 People’s Choice Award winner. Please put your hands together and let’s hear it for:
2022 People’s Choice Award WINNER
Hello My Name is Mother Nature - Submitted by Pamela Manos
Congratulations to Pamela and all the cast and crew involved!
You might remember that Hello My Name is Mother Nature also took out the Audience Choice Award on festival night, as voted by the in-cinema audience, which is an amazing win for this student-made film.
This latest award means that it takes home BOTH awards decided by popular vote!
And in case you’re curious… second place for the People’s Choice Award went to a film that pulled on all of our heartstrings, My Gift by Michael Raso.
Still Searchin’ Productions would like to give a special shout out to all the 2022 entrants, and particularly the finalists who screened on festival night at Event Cinemas Liverpool and all summer long for the Online Film Festival.
You each contributed to a fabulous festival experience for so many people (including us!) and we applaud you for making such adventurous, engaging and heartfelt films.
We’d also like to extend a very generous thanks to our wonderful hosts, Prudence Bernadette and Shetu Simone, for their amazing work on camera, and the fantastic crew from Luke Walker Productions, our festival sponsors, for working with Ross and Daragh our producers to capture all the fun of festival night for online viewers to enjoy!
Of course, the sponsors who bring Made in the West to life by contributing to the event-running costs should get some kudos as well. Event Cinemas, Western Sydney University, AFTRS and Still Searchin’ Productions – we love your work!
With your continued support, Western Sydney shines on screen with a dedicated film festival showcasing the diverse and authentic stories from our region.
And with that, we should tell you that submissions are OPEN right now for the 2023 festival!
If you have produced a short film featuring a location, cast or crew member from Western Sydney, we want to see it on the big screen. Head to our ENTRY FORM for more info and to submit your film.
See you soon, film fam!