Buckle up, folks – Western Sydney’s talent is about to knock your sweet socks off and we couldn’t be more keen.
Why? Because today is the day! It's the moment we shine the spotlight on the incredible cast and crew whose hard work went into creating the 2024 Official Selection films.
Let’s hear it for Western Sydney filmmakers! You’ve smashed it out of the park yet again, and we’ve been buzzing with excitement getting ready to reveal this year’s individual award nominees.
But before we dive in headfirst, let’s step back just for a moment...
Whether you’re a seasoned Made in the West pro or brand new to the festival, here’s a quick rundown of what's in store:
24 films in total are featured in the festival this year as we host our Official Selection films on Saturday 30 November in cinema and a bumper 3-hour line-up in our Movie Marathon Selection screening online and on demand over the summer.
The Official Selection films have been assessed by our esteemed panel of judges and all 14 incredible films are in the running for three major trophies: Best in the West (for indie filmmakers only) Best Student Film, and the Best Music Video Award.
Now, here’s where it gets personal – the Audience Choice Award is all about YOU. Yep that’s right, you get to cast your vote live at the cinema to decide the final winner of the night.
Bring your family, bring your friends, bring your cast & crew, but we make no promises that their vote won’t be swayed by another epic film in the lineup!
Oh, and let’s just remind you too that the filmmaker prize pool we have this year is out of this world – over $35,000 worth of prizes donated by our wonderful sponsors and partners from across the city, all keen to support #WesternSydneyFilm.
Check out our list of prizes & awards to see what’s up for grabs. Yowzah!
And that’s not all… Our judges are also deciding the winners of the individual category awards for Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematographer, Best Lead Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Editor, Best Production Design, Best Sound Design and Best Original Music Score.
To be fair, we’re just glad we’re not the ones deciding!
It’d be impossible for us to choose nominees (let alone winners!) with this level of talent in the room. HUGE thanks to our judges for taking that pressure off our hands!
So many awards.
So much talent!
The suspense is real.
Are you ready??
Made in the West is proud to announce the nominees for this year’s individual category awards:
BEST DIRECTOR NOMINEES
Angel Signs: Isaac Puerile - Fernando de Miguel Fuertes
Bad Vibrations - Nicole Delprado
Bottleneck - Tatjana Hamilton
Dusty - Jeremy Lindsay Taylor
Gallery of Echoes - Jazlyn Richards
Greystanes - Ryan Cauchi
MisUnderstood - Diana Caicedo and Kasey Medeiros
Neuromance - Brodie Pyke
Places, Please! - Paul Rye
Poison - Wayne Tunks
Riley - Bonnie Sveen
Rostrum - Daniel Kuberek
Velvet Skin: Dylan Atlantis - Sim Kaur
When Foreigners Speak English in American Movies - Martin Yeung
BEST SCREENPLAY NOMINEES
Bottleneck - Benji Menday
Dusty - Travis Jeffery
Greystanes - Ryan Cauchi and Matt Ferro
MisUnderstood - Diana Caicedo, Kasey Medeiros and Jessica Rosewalk
Neuromance - Kyle Goldfinch
Places, Please! - Paul Rye
Poison - Wayne Tunks
BEST CINEMATOGRAPHER NOMINEES
Angel Signs: Isaac Puerile - Kevin Nguyen
Bottleneck - Aemon Barzanji
Dusty - Kate Cornish
Gallery of Echoes - Ella Southwell
Greystanes - Matt Ryan
MisUnderstood - Yoshuya Shimasaki
Places, Please! - Angus Lowe
Riley - Justin Besser
Rostrum - Justin Mclean
BEST EDITOR NOMINEES
Bottleneck - Jarrod Young
Dusty - Jessie Hildebrand
Gallery of Echoes - Deepak Challa
Greystanes - Ryan Cauchi
Neuromance - James Castle
Places, Please! - Samuel Hanrahan
Riley - Ryan Cauchi
Velvet Skin: Dylan Atlantis - Zion Garcia
BEST SOUND DESIGN NOMINEES
Bad Vibrations - Taren Smith
Bottleneck - Neel Shukla
Dusty - Daniel Anthon
Greystanes - Nick Keate
Neuromance - Julian Oliver and Samuel Foster
Places, Please! - Anthony Marsh
Riley - Georgia Collins
BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN NOMINEES
Angel Signs: Isaac Puerile - Taylah Miller
Bad Vibrations - Sudevi Nath
Bottleneck - Chris Le Page
Dusty - Dane Hallet
Gallery of Echoes - Jazlyn Richards and Ella Southwell
Places, Please! - Paul Rye
Riley - Bonnie Sveen
Velvet Skin: Dylan Atlantis - Annika Kumar
BEST ORIGINAL MUSIC SCORE NOMINEES
Bad Vibrations - The ARTGRL
Bottleneck - Jesse Boyle
Dusty - Luke Altmann
Gallery of Echoes - Joyzender Jap
Greystanes - Me-Lee Hay
MisUnderstood - A.J Stewart and Carolyn Koch
Neuromance - Samuel Foster
Places, Please! - Marius Diaz
Riley – Nat Bartsch and Ania Reynolds
BEST LEAD ACTOR NOMINEES
Bottleneck - Laneikka Denne
Dusty - Travis Jeffery
Greystanes - Chloe Delle-Vedove
MisUnderstood - Emma Boyce
Neuromance - Will Ingham
Places, Please! Yarno Rohling
Poison - Wayne Tunks
Rostrum - Shane Emmett
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR NOMINEES
Bottleneck - Adam Marks
Dusty - Shannon Ryan
Greystanes - Frances Duca
MisUnderstood - William Rodriguez
Neuromance - Mina Asfour
Riley - Bonnie Sveen
When Foreigners Speak English in American Movies - Laura Bucci
A massive congratulations to the incredible cast and crew behind this year’s Official Selection films! And best of luck to all the nominees vying for individual prize category awards – we’ll be cheering for you!
Have you snagged yourself a ticket yet? Remember, Made in the West is always FREE but bookings are a must! Tickets are flying out the door, so don’t miss your chance – reserve yours now before they’re gone.
What are you waiting for? BOOK YOUR TICKET NOW!
Can’t attend this year because of your work EOY party clash? No worries! You can still catch all 24 short films online!
Our MEGA Movie Marathon kicks off in December and runs through January, bringing the red-carpet experience straight to your screen at home. Starting 10 December, you can stream all the finalist films along with festival highlights and exclusive filmmaker interviews.
And guess what? Viewers at home get to vote for the People’s Choice Award and this year we’re awarding our first ever CASH PRIZE too! Ooh-la-la!
Save time now with early bird tickets to the Online MEGA Movie Marathon – book a ticket via our Humanitix ticket site and we’ll send you the link to watch when the marathon kicks off in December.
Western Sydney, we’re looking forward to hosting you on the red carpet soon.
Congratulations again to this year’s award ominees!