In 2023, the American Cinematheque in Los Angeles launched the first edition of PROOF, a short film festival dedicated to showcasing movies by emerging filmmakers hoping to use their shorts as proof-of-concepts for more ambitious features. This November, PROOF returns to the Cinematheque in an expanded form that includes special screenings, panels, development funds for award-winning shorts, and a “Pitch Deck Show & Tell.”
For the third edition of PROOF, screenings of the proof-of-concept shorts will run alongside centerpiece programming that includes “Film Financing Today,” a panel that will discuss how projects are getting made in today’s shifting entertainment landscape, and “Next Steps: From a Short to a Feature,” a returning PROOF signature panel spotlighting filmmakers who have successfully expanded short-form work into features or television.
Building on that idea of exploring how filmmakers have leveraged shorts into feature film work, the festival will also host the Los Angeles premiere of “Atropia.” The winner of the Dramatic Feature Grand Jury Prize at this year’s Sundance, “Atropia” was originally a short film before it evolved into a full-length feature, and both the short and the feature will screen at PROOF. Writer/director Hailey Gates and star Alia Shawkat will appear for an in-person Q&A between the short film and the feature film.
This year, PROOF will also present “Pitch Deck Show & Tell” selections, an event that will give filmmakers the opportunity to present their pitch decks and project ideas to a live audience of peers, industry professionals, and potential collaborators. Presenting both feature and series concepts, participants will have five minutes to pitch after which they’ll receive real-time feedback from filmmakers, producers, and executives to help refine their projects and take them to the next stage.
As in previous years, however, the festival’s primary mission is to empower the next generation of cinematic storytellers by providing a forum for their proof-of-concept shorts. These shorts will be eligible for awards given by a jury featuring Miranda Sarah Einy (producer, “Happy Place”), Rachel Goldfinger (creative executive, Playgrounds), Sarah Marie Flores (creative executive, Anarchists United), Remy Solomon (writer and content creator), Brett Robinson (development executive), Liz Sargent (writer/director), Riley Chapman (coordinator, New Line Cinema), Sara Koch (casting director), Kesila Childers (producer and development executive), Aisling Scott Lynch (creative executive, Fourth Wall), Reiko Napier Moreno (independent producer/manager), and Yuky Shen (executive assistant, Kindred Spirit).
Five juried awards will be presented at the festival’s end, along with one audience choice award. The newest juried award is the “Shot on Film” Award sponsored by Kodak. The award will be granted to a filmmaker that shot their project either partially or completely on film, and they will receive an in-kind grant of $5,000 of Kodak Motion Picture Film Stock and/or Processing.
In addition, the newly created PROOF Development Fund will provide unrestricted grants to the winners of the festival, intended to directly support key next steps in their creative journeys — whether that’s bringing on a line producer, hiring a casting director, securing legal counsel, attending markets and festivals, or funding other early development needs. The 2025 Grand Jury Prize winner will receive $2,500, with additional grant money available for other festival awardees.
The festival will run November 7 – 9 at The Culver Theater in Culver City. Individual tickets to screenings, blocks, and panels are now on sale at the American Cinematheque‘s website.
