The Proof Film Festival Returns to the American Cinematheque to Help Independent Filmmakers Make Their Features

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.