Carlos López Estrada, the Oscar-nominated filmmaker behind “Blindspotting” and “Raya and the Last Dragon,” will headline the American Cinematheque’s fourth PROOF Film Festival, which will be held at the Culver Theater from November 5-8.
The independent festival showcases short films from up-and-coming filmmakers with the goal of helping them break into the entertainment industry with feature and TV projects. The festival’s 2024 Audience Choice Award winner, “The Musical,” has been developed into a feature film by Gillian Jacobs, Tony Award winner Will Brill and Golden Globe winner Rob Lowe that will premiere at this year’s PROOF on November 5.
“PROOF gave us the credibility to be taken seriously by financiers. Winning the Audience Award was a very important moment that solidified our plans to move into production in the summer of 2025,” said “The Musical” director Giselle Bonilla.
“This was the most impactful festival event we’ve had to date, with an amazing and authentic community of films and filmmakers. We couldn’t have asked for a more positive experience,” said producer Alex Heller.
In addition to film programming, PROOF features a series of industry panels bringing together top filmmakers, executives, producers and producers to offer emerging talent insight into financing, producing, positioning and navigating today’s entertainment landscape.
Highlights include the Next/Gen Champions Roundtable, a new annual keynote discussion featuring this year’s prominent organizations: Estrada’s Antigravity Academy and Rideback Rise – the production studio co-founded by former Netflix head of film Dan Lin – both of which align with PROOF’s mission to support the next generation of storytellers.
Another keynote will be the annual Next Steps: From a Short to Feature panel, featuring director Kate Mason of “Serious Play,” writer/director Russell Goldman of “Sender,” producer Valerie Steinberg, writer/director Jessica Liu of “Better Life” and director Liz Sargent of “Take Me Home.” Both Liu and Sargent are PROOF Film Festival alumni. TheWrap will also co-present a panel exploring current trends in today’s film market.
Weekend passes for the PROOF Film Festival are available at the American Cinematheque website.
