Misty McPhail is an executive producer at Made in the West CREATIVE and the general manager of Made in the West Film Festival (MITW), a grassroots festival that celebrates and showcases Western Sydney filmmakers on screen. W’SUP chats to her about the 2024 Made in the West’ Film Festival, and what audiences can expect.
W’SUP: This year, what can movie lovers expect when they attend ‘Made in the West’?
McPhail: The full marathon lineup includes 24 short films made by filmmakers from and across Sydney. All those films include at least 1 cast member, crew member, or location from Western Sydney. That means there is a diverse mix of films that are included, from horror to drama and comedy to animation, documentary, and music videos, as we also have a music video category. So, there is always a mixed bag of films, but Western Sydney filmmakers are well-known for delivering bold and impactful stories. They are wonderfully written, and they deliver a good punch in their storylines. So, viewers can expect to be entertained.
W’SUP: What do you love about watching short films with other movie lovers?
McPhail: What I love about short films? I love seeing people who perhaps haven’t been to a short film festival before, come along and enjoy 2 and a half hours of short films, and rather than thinking to themselves “I’m not sure what this is going to be like?’, afterwards, they always say ‘that was so entertaining’ – going from one to the next is exciting, different perspectives being shown, a rollercoaster of emotions!
As festival curators, we really enjoy thinking about the flow of the night – what short film we’re going to show first, what’s going to come last – how are we going to build that crescendo over the course of the night! Because the audience is being taken on a journey for these 14 short films in the cinema.
(“The next year, everybody said “We’ve made another film – can we do it again?”, says McPhail. Photo by Ron Lach | Pexels).
W’SUP: How did MITW first begin – what started it?
McPhail: We were third year students at Western Sydney University, and my partner Ross [Ross Paige], the artistic director of the Made in the West Festival, had a film to screen. It was a short film, it was his final work for third year, in Media and Arts Production, and we tried to get the film in in different festivals and it didn’t make it in, you know it was a student film – a first attempt at a student film. Ross was very dedicated to ensuring that he could screen his film in front of an actual audience. The work that goes into making a film is really a lot – there’s a lot of people involved, cast and crew, and so many films get made that unfortunately don’t get to screen in front of people. Reasons could be the filmmaker is nervous about screening it, or maybe they don’t think it’s good enough…could be many reasons why, especially student films, don’t end up being seen.
One day, we were having a beer at the Roxy Hotel, and we were upset about the film not being screened, to be honest, and the manager said, “You know there’s a screen right here, at the Roxy – and you know that you’re in the oldest theatre in Sydney, right now”, and so he took us through and said “It’s old, it’s falling apart, but it’s a theatre, it has a screen, you can host 400 people here…”
And we said, “Well if we could bring 100 people here on a Thursday night, will you give us that screen for free?’
So, we invited everybody to come along, all of the student filmmakers that Ross was in his third year with (there were ten of them), we invited them to bring their families, and the cast and crew – and we put everybody’s films up on screen.
The next year, everybody said “We’ve made another film – can we do it again?”, so we borrowed a red carpet, I invited some journalists from the local newspaper to come down and do some interviews. Then, we screened another twelve films, and we had 300 people arrive.
This also followed into the following year – the local filmmakers kept creating, so we kept thinking there is a space for this, and a need for this.
In 2017, we decided we needed to move back to Western Sydney and ended up striking up a partnership with Event Cinemas, and this is our 7th year at Liverpool Event Cinemas. We have a wonderful V-Max cinema screen, 3-storey, theatre-style cinema, leather seats, bar, red carpet, cocktails… we couldn’t be prouder of where we’ve landed, considering where we started, which was quiet literally from our student laptop.
13 years later, us being at the cinema, we now work with all those Western Sydney filmmakers – we’ve set up an agency, we work with all those creatives on many different projects. It’s really exciting to see where Made in the West has gone, from where it began.
W’SUP: What are your thoughts on cinema today in 2024?
McPhail: I think film festivals have become the new distribution opportunity for cinemas and for films. Film watching is such an enjoyable, communal experience and film festivals are a great reason for people to come out and experience new films, try something new, find out about new filmmakers and Australian filmmakers particularly. Film festivals, I think, are a real opportunity to get people into the cinema, and sampling different types of work.
That said, cinemas hold a special place in everybody’s hearts – they are one of the first places that we get to experience as young people going out with our families or friends and enjoying a couple of hours of entertainment and escapism.
These days, that passion is still alive, but sometimes the opportunity isn’t always there, so local cinemas like Event Cinemas – who do a lot of community programs and community promotion – are really beneficial.
(“I like to watch a lot of local films”, says McPhail. Photo by Ron Lach | Pexels).
W’SUP: What’s on the horizon for MITW?
McPhail: MITW is looking to expand the cinemas we are working with as well – we’re interested in taking western Sydney films regional, for arthouse cinemas up the coast and around New South Wales. We think there’s great opportunity to be able to spread the love and bring the MITW film festival to cinemas elsewhere, as well.
W’SUP: What have been some of your favourite films you’ve seen this year, and why?
McPhail: I like to watch a lot of local films – such as a great documentary that’s been made here in Western Sydney. It’s called “The Blind Sea” – it’s currently up for some AACTA Awards, and it’s made by Brick Studios, based in McArthur, and they’ve made a documentary – it follows elite Australian athlete, Matt Formston, and big wave legend, Dylan Longbottom, as they charge the biggest wave.
You can find out more about ‘Made in the West’, and read their 2024 program and list of films, as well as watch the Online Mega Movie Marathon.
The MITW Online Mega Movie Marathon ran from 10th December 2024 – 30th January 2025.
