WA Made Film Festival

Submit your feature films, short films, student short films, documentaries, web series, television episodes and your Get Smart! smartphone films now!

The WA Made Film Festival is a vibrant celebration of the Western Australian filmmaking community, providing a valuable platform for local filmmakers to showcase their talents, stories, and creativity.

In what will be its 5th YEAR ANNIVERSARY the 2024 WA Made Film Festival will present a curated program of screenings and events which engages the community with the very best of the Western Australian screen industry.

WA Made Film Festival is Western Australia’s only independently operated film festival featuring exclusively WA made films only, and is WA's biggest celebration of locally-made screen content.

WA Made Film Festival strives to showcase and celebrate talented cast and crew, stunning locations, and unique stories from all over Western Australia.

Held 23 February - 3 March 2024, the WA Made Film Festival will again screen at Palace Cinemas Raine Square right in the heart of Perth city.

Attracting audiences from all over Australia, the 2024 WA Made Film Festival will include World Premieres, Perth Premieres, pre-screening networking events, parties with drinks and canapés, Question and Answer sessions with filmmakers and other post-screening events and educational screenings.

Be part of this exciting new festival by submitting now!

2024 FESTIVAL:

A screening committee will determine which films will be exhibited throughout the film festival. All submissions are unfortunately not guaranteed to be shown.

Successful filmmakers will be notified late December 2023 and will receive an official selection laurel. Depending on the event, some filmmakers will be invited to participate in a Q&A after their screening to discuss the films journey with the audience. Filmmakers will receive 1 free ticket to their screening and if more attendees from the film would like to be on the Q&A panel (actors or other key crew) please contact festival organisers, additional complimentary tickets will be at their discretion.

Unsuccessful submissions will also be notified late December 2023.

Get Smart! submissions will be eligible for a $1000 cash prize for Best Film as selected by the WA Made Film Festival's Smart Jury.

2024 FESTIVAL T&CS:

By submitting your content, you agree that WA Made Film Festival can use parts of your film (including trailer/teaser/film poster) for promotional purposes. You also grant permission that your film may be made available online during the festival as part of an online ticketed component to the festival.

To submit a film, you must have created the project yourself, own the rights or have permission from the owner of the content to submit the film to us.

Films must be made in Western Australia with a preference on being post produced here too. Please email festival organisers to inform them of any elements of your film being non-Western Australian (actors, crew members, locations, post production etc).

The "Student Shorts" category is for short films made at University, High School or Film School where a majority of the key creatives are students, or were students at the time of filming.

Your submission will be watched in its entirety and judged fairly. All decisions of the committee are final.

All entries must have been completed after June 2022.

Works in progress/rough cuts are considered (if the final film will be completed well before February 2024).

Non-English films accepted with English subtitles.

You must own or be given all of the rights to anything you submit to the festival including music in the film.

Submissions are NON-refundable. You also acknowledge that the film submission fee does not guarantee acceptance and no refund will be provided if your film is not selected.

Applicants who do not follow the guidelines will not be accepted.

Accepted short films will need to be supplied as a HD Prores 422 file with stereo or 5.1 audio. MP4 will be accepted if no higher resolution is available. Must be minimum 1920x1080.

Accepted feature films will need to be supplied on DCP on a NTFS PC formatted harddrive with a preference of 5.1 audio, if your film is not available on DCP, festival organisers can convert a Prores 422 file with embedded 5.1 or stereo audio.

2024 GET SMART! Presented by BUY WEST EAT BEST rules:

1. The 2024 Get Smart! Presented by Buy West Eat Best theme is SPAGHETTI.
Your film must contain the Get Smart! Presented by Buy West Eat Best theme SPAGHETTI to show that your film was specifically made for the WA Made Film Festival.
Examples of the 2024 theme SPAGHETTI: A Spaghetti Western. A documentary about spaghetti. The word spaghetti is mentioned. Someone eating spaghetti. A picture of spaghetti in the background etc. The theme SPAGHETTI can be as subtle or as direct as you'd like it to be.

2. To be eligible for the $1000 Best Film cash prize your film MUST be made exclusively for Get Smart! Presented by Buy West Eat Best and cannot screen anywhere prior to the festival in February 2024. Student Showcase Screenings are permitted, but the festival must be made aware of any previous screenings during the submission process.

3. Your film must not be made public on any online platforms including YouTube before the 2024 festival.

4. Open to Western Australian residents only.

5. Submissions must be set and filmed in Western Australia.

6. Submissions must be shot entirely on a smartphone.

7. Submissions must be no longer than 10 minutes including titles and credits. There is no minimum time limit.

8. You must have the rights to all music and sound contained within the film for usage in cinema and online.

9. All genres accepted.

10. There is no age limit or qualification required.

11. External microphones, smartphone lenses, lighting, tripods etc. are permitted and encouraged.

12. Post-production (editing, colour grading, sound mix, VFX, credits and titles etc.) does not have to be done on a smartphone or tablet and can be done via any editing software or app.

13. Final film must be delivered in minimum HD quality - 1920x1080. Preference: MP4/MOV at 24 or 25 fps. However other frame rates are accepted.

Filmmakers will always retain the copyright on their films!

Overall Rating

Quality

Value

Communication

Hospitality

Networking

Ben Nixon

A brilliant and inviting festival that showcases a wide variety of WA films! It was great seeing so many different directorial voices and the Q&A sessions were fascinating for finding out more about the behind-the-scenes. Would definitely submit more films here!

March 2024

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Hero Swag

Had a great time watching all WA made films, so interesting to see what ideas perth people have got. Great fun!!!

June 2023

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H Kushkaki

This was my first festival experience as a filmmaker and Matthew and Jasmine really outdid themselves! We all felt like we got star treatment, it was overwhelming! Photographers, food, drink, cheese platters, you name it, they had it!
This year it was held over two weekends with plenty of screenings throughout the week.
Almost every screening was sold out so the place was buzzing every day!
Matthew and Jasmine did an outstanding job making sure everything was on point! If you are in WA and are working on current projects, this is the festival you need to submit your work to! It was an absolute pleasure and honour to have been a part of the '23 class of films! I look forward to next year!

March 2023

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Arnold Carter

Amazing event. Amazing talent and lovely passionate, hard-working people involved to bring support to Western Australian films.
Thank you WA Made for including my film Sun Moon & Thalia

March 2023

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Cooper Clark

WAMade provides a crucial platform for Western Australian-residing filmmakers - while also nurturing a diverse range of talent & stories. The event organisers were extremely communicative, supportive, and friendly throughout the entire process. I can't wait to see this festival grow in the years to come.

March 2023

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