The Setting Sun Film Festival celebrates the best filmmakers from around Victoria and indeed the world. In nine years, we’ve grown from being a small community festival to the largest film festival in the West and one of the biggest in Melbourne.
We embrace cultural diversity, being one of the first mainstream festivals to introduce awards and programs reflecting the reality of our culturally diverse society. Over the years, filmmakers have entered films into these award categories exploring and highlighting themes of disability, gender identity, sexuality, religion, culture and age, in narrative and documentary films.
We’ve done all this by working hard and delivering clever marketing. We want to give your brand the deluxe treatment through a diverse package. Let us help you get closer to the West’s urban, sophisticated community. We screen at the number one cinema in the West, the Sun Theatre Yarraville.
Become a festival patron for as little as $100.
If you’d like to become a Setting Sun Film Festival sponsor, please fill out this contact form and we will contact you.
Founder/Producer
The producer and creator of this festival. PKM produces the events, website content, posters, coordinates the judging,
programming, administration, marketing, publicity. It produces and directs the trailers and art directs the posters and all graphics. 
Partner
City of Maribyrnong
We are proud to be part of the City of Maribyrnong’s festival calendar. Maribyrnong is one of the most ethnically diverse areas in Melbourne. It has a vibrant, artistic and cultural community. There’s always something going on. 
They are committed supporters to the arts.
Education Partner
Deakin University
The School of Communication and Creative Arts (SCCA) opens the door to a 
dynamic and diverse curriculum in the artistic and communicative fields. SCCA is where you can find your voice and place in the world, exploring rich possibilities for a truly satisfying future.
Communication includes advertising, digital and social media, journalism and public relations, taught by researchers and industry experts and focused on the way your future careers cover all these areas of expertise. Find out more about communication
Screen and design offers advanced and professionally recognised studies in film, television, animation, and design (both visual and technological) and offer many different opportunities to suit your special talents. Find out more about screen and design
Venue Partners
Kindred Studios
Kindred Studios have provided our festival director with an artist-in-residency space to produce the festival since 2015. Established in 2005, Kindred Studios is a purpose built space for creative professionals & projects. 
From rehearsal studios to coworking offices, our studios in Yarraville provide you with the perfect space to rehearse, perform and work while realising your next project.
The Sun Theatre, a beautiful Art Deco theatre, is the most prestigious in the west. They are a wonderful community contributor, and we’re proud to have them as our leading venue partner. They have been supportive and committed sponsors from the beginning. 
The Sun originally opened in 1938 and was a single screen 1050 seat cinema – the most luxurious in the area. Today it has 8 boutique cinemas, ranging in size from 200 seats down to 23 couches and variations in between! The cinemas have club-style seats where you can sit comfortably and enjoy a glass of wine, popcorn or other treats. The Sun will again contribute some great prizes including tickets and free theatre hire.
Creative Partner
We are super excited to be showcasing some of Greece and Cyprus’s most talented filmmakers in this year’s festival for the second year. The International Short Film Festival Psarokokalo is an annual festival held in Greece since 2007. The festival aims to provide a showcase for the work of new filmmakers from around the world and to promote the diversity and richness of the short film. 
It Is part of a project aiming to research, promote and develop the art of filmmaking and media literacy (Psaroloco Media Literacy Project https://www.psaroloco.org/ ) The festival program includes screenings of short films from Greece and abroad as well as audiovisual events, lectures, masterclasses, exhibitions, and live concerts. They will also be screening winning films from our festival.
General sponsors
Women in Film & TV Victoria (WIFT VIC) is a membership based, not-for-profit organisation with a volunteer run board. For 30 years, they have promoted the participation and profile of women working in screen based industries. 
They advocate on behalf of their members and provide information, events and networking opportunities. They are an independent organisation that is not affiliated with any other state or national organisation, however they do partner with many.
Blackmagic has grown rapidly to become one of the world’s leading innovators and manufacturers of creative video technology.
And that’s because our philosophy is refreshing and simple – to help true creativity blossom.
Blackmagic Design’s founders have had a long history in post-production editing and engineering. With extensive experiences in high-end telecine, film and post, harnessed with a real passion for perfection, Blackmagic set out to change the industry forever.
Hummingbird Rentals has quickly become one of Melbourne’s favourite boutique rental houses. 
Their growing inventory includes Arri and RED cameras, Cooke, Zeiss, Leica lenses and of course our flagship Hawk C Series anamorphic, the only set in Australia. Whilst they work with some of Melbourne’s best and most established DP’s, they always have an eye on the next generation. Their mission to help the industry grow and thrive by helping young DP’s and filmmakers get the best camera packages for their next film. As such, they are thrilled to be a part of the Setting Sun Film Festival and offer a $1000 store credit to the winner of the Best Emerging filmmaker.
Fincke Family
The Fincke Family have donated $200 in memory of their family friend, George Ware Dixon. 
George was an actor, scholar, teacher and writer – of plays and short films. He lived with his wife Lola Russell in Melbourne’s oldest shop, which had been Lola’s childhood home. George and Lola operated the shop as Russell’s Café, performing plays and poetry readings there through the years until the building was deemed dangerous in 2017 and the couple, both in their 90s, had to move out.
Of George’s many accomplishments, one of the most interesting was his leading role in ‘Clay’, Australia’s entry in the 1965 Cannes Film Festival, and nominated for the Golden Palm. The film was the work of arthouse filmmaker Giorgio Mangiamele, who was featured in a MIFF retrospective a few years ago. (George Dixon’s wife Lola was also in ‘Clay’).
Baby Guerrilla is the West’s leading street artist. Her paste ups can be seen everywhere including the on the buildings of Victoria University Baby has sponsored the festival since it began it began.
Media Partners
The Westsider
We love catching up with all the news from the west by reading The Westsider. 
It is a community newspaper for the western suburbs of Melbourne. It is powered by citizen journalists and publishes articles written by people who live and work in Altona, Footscray, Yarraville, Seddon, Kingsville, Sunshine, Williamstown, Newport, Spotswood, Point Cook, Melton, Werribee and nearby suburbs
3CR
Their broadcasters present over 120 radio programs every week and listeners can tune in on 855AM, stream live through the web or download podcasts of their shows. This year, they will once again provide interviews for winners. 
The radio station was established in 1976 to provide a voice for those denied access to the mass media, particularly the working class, women, Indigenous people and the many community groups and community issues discriminated against in and by the mass media.
