American Cinematheque announced the lineup of 46 official selections, filmmaking labs and panels for the 2nd Annual PROOF Film Festival, taking place October 18-20 at the Culver Theater (9500 Culver Blvd.).
PROOF is dedicated solely to the presentation of proof-of-concept short films, looking to be expanded into feature-length productions or series, and empowering the next generation of cinematic storytellers.
The films span a wide range of genres, styles, format, and approach to storytelling including Zao Wang’s dark comedy A Family Guide to Hunting about an Asian-American family on a hunting trip gone wrong. Joseph Picozzi’s Computer Love focuses on a sheltered teenage girl who cheats on her boyfriend with her family’s new robot houseboy. Alexander Hagani’s coming-of-age tale Top Shot follows an 11-year-old boy who deals with the aftermath of his parent’s divorce by escaping into basketball daydreams.
Films on the dramatic front include Andrew Reid’s Iron Lung is a nail-biter in which a power outage forces a polio survivor and her caretaker sister into a race against time to find a new way for her to breathe. Maky Rupert’s Peasfollows a young girl as she witnesses her mother go on a date for the first time since her father’s death. Gordy De St. Jeor and Jillian Moray’s Vintage Lamp Shade finds two girls figuring out where their friendship lies between the romantic and the platonic.
Examples of films that stretch the imagination include Neil Ferron’s supernatural dark comedy Fishmonger centering on the title character who must survive a sex pact with an ancient fish creature in order to save his mother’s soul. Trevor Neuhoff’s Manny Wolfe is an actor – and werewolf – who must decide whether he can forego his dignity to take a part in a creature feature. Neal Suresh Mulani’s Rat! looks at what happens when a music journalist calls out a global pop star’s queerbaiting and places a target on himself for the star’s overzealous fans seeking retribution.
Among the films that delve into relationships in unexpectedly heartfelt or funny ways are Brendan Kirk’s Henry Gets a Shot, which follows the results of Henry going to see Karlo about that job at the pizzeria. Yaxing Lin’s Playground is about a daughter who reunites with her mother after a year apart. However, her curiosity about her mom’s job as a performer at an adult nightclub leads to some tricky situations. Jeremiah Dunlap and Cory Quintard’s Mt. Mystic Rangers is a half-hour mockumentary that follows a unit of misfit Park Rangers as they navigate their daily duties, encounter the paranormal, and deal with visitors from all walks of life.
Once again, PROOF will look to spotlight a slate of innovative films from up-and-coming filmmakers, as well as panel conversations on the art and business of filmmaking. To that end, this year, PROOF will team with CALLO to schedule meetings between selected festival filmmakers and industry partners in the film festival’s CALLO Lounge. Another highlight is the PROOF Pitch Deck Show & Tell. This interactive session will feature 6 selected filmmakers who will pitch their project live in front of a film industry panel. A grand prize winner and a runner-up will be selected and announced at the PROOF Film Festival Award Show.
American Cinematheque Film Programmer and Proof Film Festival Founder, Imani Davis, said, “After the success of last year’s inaugural edition of PROOF, we looked to bring on more partners and add more tools to give our filmmakers an even better experience, and create more opportunities and avenues to further their work and careers. Screening these wonderfully creative and entertaining projects on the big screen – while essential – is just one part of what an event like ours can do so each of them can take the next step in their artistic careers.”
The 2024 Proof Film Festival Official Selections:
A Family Guide to Hunting
Director: Zao Wang
Country: USA; Running Time: 14:07 minutes
A Family Guide to Hunting is a dark comedy about an Asian-American family on a hunting trip gone wrong. The wilderness turns the temperature up on their dysfunctional family dynamics, as well as their unique brand of Asian-American sacrifice, love, and filial piety.
Alma Mater
Director: Matthew P. Higgins
Country: USA; Running Time: 5:40 minutes
As Arthur (30s) turns the pages of his late father’s 1973 high school yearbook, he receives a phone call. The caller knows Arthur is reading the yearbook—and tells him to burn it immediately. The reason: a teacher from the high school murdered their friends and classmates. The student body decided to burn all the yearbooks…or so they thought. The tension reaches a boiling point when a menacing, silhouetted spirit suddenly lurks behind Arthur…
Bathroom Attendant
Director: Gabriella Mykal
Country: USA; Running Time: 5:21 minutes
Two black women share a moment of connection in a club bathroom.
The Bluest Hour
Director: Logan Jackson
Country: USA; Running Time: 14:28 minutes
A young couple spends their first night as parents dealing with the aftermath of a difficult birth.
Brain Freeze
Director: Kelsey Comeau
Country: USA; Running Time: 14:36 minutes
A snapshot of lifelong friends Carrie (Sofia Hublitz, Ozark) and Rae, Madison Hu (Brother’s Sun, Boogeyman) as their relationship crumbles at the seams. In their safe bubble of Northern New Jersey, the friends have hit their breaking point on Rae’s eighteenth birthday. Crossing paths years later, in the queer paradise that is Fire Island Pines, the friends are no longer. Dealing with themes of adulthood, queer identity, female friendship and mortality, Brain Freezetackles two formative moments in adolescence otherwise overlooked: the friends who fade away.
Broken Toilets
Director: Jesse Toledano
Country: USA; Running Time: 22:35 minutes
When a Hasidic property manager discovers one of his tenants is an aspiring Hip Hop producer, he ventures to make music with her, exploring a passion that he must keep alive or else fall back into a rut that threatens his marriage, happiness, and way of life.
The Captives
Director: Talia Light Rake
Country: USA; Running Time: 13:30 minutes
Jolie, a Juilliard graduate, gives up on her dreams and moves back home when her mother, Emmilene, is diagnosed with cancer. Ten years later, when her life is at a standstill, her mother’s health is declining, and an old flame resurfaces in her life, Emmilene gives Jolie an ultimatum where she is suddenly forced to face who she is and who she wants to ultimately become.
Carpeteo
Director: Adriana González-Vega
Country: Puerto Rico; Running Time: 9:33 minutes
A psychological thriller inspired by real events in Puerto Rican history. Amidst the turbulent backdrop of 1970s political upheaval at the University of Puerto Rico, a young college student finds herself grappling not only with her shifting beliefs and allegiances, but also with the complex dynamics of her relationship with her older brother, forcing her to confront the very essence of her identity and convictions.
Classmates
Director: Major Dorfman
Country: USA; Running Time: 18:57 minutes
Codie is dropped off to work on a school project with classmate Shane. The boys begin their assignment, but it’s not long before Codie coerces Shane into taking his mom’s car out for a joyride. Codie then discovers that Shane has been living in the car with his mom. They drive around a field and the car gets stuck in a ditch. The boys fight and Codie flees, leaving the mess behind.
Computer Love
Director: Joseph Picozzi
Country: USA; Running Time: 15:25 minutes
It’s the year 2100: Quinn, a sheltered teenage girl, begins cheating on her dating-app-arranged boyfriend with her family’s new robot houseboy, Michael. They quickly fall in love and exchange fantasies of running away together. After her parents catch them, they announce they’re turning Michael in for a new model. Quinn must decide whether she should abandon her family and everything she’s ever known to pursue her love with a machine.
Cousins
Director: Karina Dandashi
Country: USA; Running Time: 13:00 minutes
Two cousins born in separate countries reunite in Brooklyn when a run-in with an ex makes the night even more chaotic. Cousins explores cultural disconnect between family members and identity within oneself.
(Dis)Connected
Director: Karl Stelter
Country: USA; Running Time: 6:32 minutes
2071 – When a network glitch causes Mina to experience conflicting memories, she begs a hacker (Cole) to remove the standardized implant from her neck. Failing the diagnostic, Mina shares that she’d used the implant to rewrite the memory of her daughter’s death, and desperately wants to come to terms with her grief.
Enter By Fire
Director: Luke Wildwood
Country: USA; Running Time: 13:26 minutes
While taking pictures alone, a woman discovers something evil behind her in a photo, descending her into a fire of madness.
F*ck That Guy
Director: Hanna Gray Organschi
Country: USA; Running Time: 17:23 minutes
1992 Connecticut. Desperate to keep the attention of her intoxicating older best friend, Frankie sets out to prove that sex is no big deal.
Fishers of Men
Director: Chris Capel
Country: USA; Running Time: 20:07 minutes
A young Mormon missionary at the start of his two years of service is shown the ropes by his well-meaning trainer, who comes to terms with his own failures.
Fishmonger
Director: Neil Ferron
Country: USA; Running Time: 23:00 minutes
In this supernatural dark comedy, a pathetic Irish fishmonger must survive a sex pact with an ancient fish creature in order to save his mother’s soul from burning in hell.
Flattened
Directors: Julia Friedland-Godfrey, Will Abbot
Country: USA; Running Time: 11:25 minutes
Two young women living in the idyllic suburbs of Ohio try and have a good day.
Good Grief
Director: Megan Chumbley
Country: USA; Running Time: 11:57 minutes
Good Grief is a dark comedy, set in Salt Lake City Utah at a Mormon Mortuary. We follow Avery, the estranged daughter of the deceased, as she navigates the egocentric personalities of her dysfunctional family. Numb to her own feelings, Avery’s attempts to connect with her deceased father get side-lined by her annoying cousin, erupting a series of even bigger problems simmering under the surface.
Grown
Director: Alfonso Elkanah Morgan-Terrero
Country: USA; Running Time: 9:05 minutes
With their mother missing for three days, it is Emmanuel’s job to pick up his little brother Alex after school. One evening, as they make their way back home, Alex’s reluctance to listen to his older sets their night on a course that alters their lives forever.
Hema
Director: Ritvik Dhavale
Country: USA; Running Time: 16:25 minutes
Having recently arrived in America with her husband and son, Hema finds herself culturally displaced and must redefine her identity as a dependent mother. An encounter with a young Marathi man threatens to upend her already fragile existence.
Henry Gets a Shot
Director: Brendan Kirk
Country: USA; Running Time: 9:21 minutes
Danny is fed up with his teenage roommate Henry lazing about the apartment. Even if it’s his friend’s kid – enough is enough! It’s time Henry goes to see Karlo about that job at the pizzeria.
Hypocrite
Director: Brett Maline
Country: USA; Running Time: 11:05 minutes
A messy, disabled job recruiter in his thirties is constantly between not wanting the extra attention society gives him because of his disability and taking full advantage of it. I mean ya gotta make lemonade out of when you get a titanium rod and eight screws rammed up your back in second grade, am I right, gang? So, while he’s giving advice to his clients to be their best selves, he’s making all the bad decisions as he leans into people’s misplaced perceptions of him.
Iron Lung
Director: Andrew Reid
Country: USA; Running Time: 12:20 minutes
When a storm knocks out the power to her iron lung, a polio survivor and her caretaker sister find themselves in a race against time to find a new way for her to breathe.
Jackpot
Director: Chance Thomas Garcia
Country: USA; Running Time: 9:34 minutes
Jackpot takes place in a dystopian future shaped by vintage American TV culture. The story unfolds as a family—father, mother, and son—watches the government’s nightly lottery game show during dinner. The game’s deadly reality is unveiled when a government official arrives, fatally shooting the father at their doorstep. As the official hands the son a check, it’s revealed that he deliberately chose his father’s name to win the deadly jackpot.
Loveland
Director: Sofia Bonami
Country: USA; Running Time: 11:00 minutes
When a woman mysteriously disappears from the production of America’s favorite dating show Loveland, one contestant becomes obsessed with uncovering what happened to her — jeopardizing the one thing she came for: happily ever after.
Manny Wolfe
Director: Trevor Neuhoff
Country: USA; Running Time: 14:50 minutes
It’s 1947. Manny Wolf is an actor exhausted by Tinseltown. He also happens to be a real werewolf. After nonstop rejection, Manny gets a job. Unfortunately, he’s been typecast in a creature feature. Will Manny choose the big Hollywood role at the price of his own dignity and artistic integrity? He thinks that’s his only choice until he receives an unexpected offer from a fellow monster outcast.
Marvin Is Sorry
Director: Clint Pang
Showrunners: Brett Morrow, Alex Gehrlein, Jack Gacek
Country: USA; Running Time: 24 minutes
After accidentally killing one of his fans during the filming of a YouTube video, famed YouTuber Marvin Weaver must save his career by teaming up with Tag Taggart, an alt-right news anchor bent on cultural domination.
Mt. Mystic Rangers
Directors: Jeremiah Dunlap. Cory Quintard
Country: USA; Running Time: 23:47 minutes
Mt. Mystic Rangers is a half-hour mockumentary comedy/sci-fi/adventure series that combines a workplace comedy with the intrigue of a supernatural mystery. Through the lens of a ragtag documentary crew, the series follows a unit of misfit Park Rangers at Mt. Mystic State Park as they navigate their daily duties, encounter the paranormal, and deal with visitors from all walks of life.
The Musical
Director: Giselle Bonilla
Country: USA; Running Time: 12:00 minutes
Doug Lebowitz, a middle school theater director, decides to take down his ex-girlfriend’s new boyfriend – Principal Brady – by secretly producing a musical about 9/11 to ruin the principal’s school’s precious reputation.
Peas
Director: Maky Rupert
Country: USA; Running Time: 12:06 minutes
A drolly coming-of-age story following a young girl as she witnesses her mother go on a date for the first time since her father’s death.
The Pitch is Wac
Director: Stephen Reis
Country: USA; Running Time: 2:10 minutes
Our main character Elika, an Asian-American gamer, game designer, streamer, and gaming industry insider, faces a high-pressure pitch at Wactivision, where her creativity is tested in a head-to-head battle with AI.
Playground
Director: Yaxing Lin
Country: USA/China; Running Time: 16:21 minutes
After a year apart, Jiajia reunites with her mother Lin, who works as a performer at an adult nightclub. Jiajia’s innocent curiosity leads to tricky situations.
Rat!
Director: Neal Suresh Mulani
Country: USA; Running Time: 16:48 minutes
When a chronically online music journalist encounters a global pop star’s latest effort at queerbaiting, he seizes the moment, turns on his camera, and expresses some choice words for the vapid musician and their fans. But as his social capital rises and the internet is set ablaze, he unknowingly traces a bold-faced arrowhead to his front doorstep, where the pop star’s overzealous fans show up to wreak havoc and seek retribution.
Retro-Futuristic Anthology: Ep. “Moscow 33”
Directors: Ashot Gevorkyan, Matvey Stavitsky
Country: Russia; Running Time: 5:30 minutes
In a futuristic Soviet Union an accomplished scientist, who created an AI device that can change the world, is threatened by the government, that is set to get rid of him and use his discovery to control the people.
Ripe!
Director: Tusk
Country: USA; Running Time: 18:10 minutes
Nothing says “it’s complicated” like breaking your crush’s arm.
Ronnie California: The King of Artesia
Director: Adi Kalidindi
Country: USA; Running Time: 17 minutes
Ronnie California, an Indian immigrant who operates an illegal gambling ring out of the back of his failing saree shop, must face the music when the community exposes his shady dealings. Hit with the prospect of losing his business to the IRS, Ronnie goes to great lengths to make ends meet.
Seeking Sasquatch
Director: Thomas Thomas
Country: USA; Running Time: 4:00 minutes
Seeking Sasquatch begins with a hostile and skeptical scientist joining the Bigfoot Investigation Bureau. With him, the BIB must face new and outlandish predicaments each week to find proof of a ‘Squatch. To succeed, they must unite, muster their strengths, and overcome their many differences. While proof might remain elusive, who knows? They might discover themselves along the way.
Seoul Switch
Director: Liann Kaye
Country: USA; Running Time: 13:00 minutes
When an insecure, Korean American boy meets an International K-Pop Star who looks just like him, they decide to switch identities.
Shadow
Director: Kamell Allaway
Country: USA; Running Time: 12:00 minutes
A young mother’s shadow takes on a life of its own, terrorizing her and her daughter over the course of one night.
Take Me Home
Director: Liz Sargent
Country: USA; Running Time: 15:00 minutes
When Emily is reunited with her sister Anna after their mother’s passing, she struggles to reconnect to their Florida life. Anna’s Cognitive Disability makes communication challenging, and the tragedy makes rebuilding their home and relationship urgent. Their growth as sisters in Take Me Home creates a touching story on family, and the care that we all require from one another.
The Thaw
Directors: Sarah Wisner. Sean Temple
Country: USA; Running Time: 16:32 minutes
The Thaw is set in the late 19th century in the challenging Vermont hills. Ruth and her aging parents, Alma and Timothy, struggle to subsist on a failing farm after Ruth is abandoned by her unfaithful husband. They turn to a remedy as old as the hills, a sleeping tea that allows the elderly and infirm to sleep out the winter months while frozen and packed in snow, to be safely revived in the spring. But when a storm blows in an early thaw, the ritual is broken and the sleepers wake too soon – to horrifying results.
Top Shot
Director: Alexander Hagani
Country: USA; Running Time: 15:17 minutes
A tale about growing up, basketball, and trading cards. 11-year-old Alexander adjusts to life with his new stepdad, Ian, while navigating the aftermath of his parent’s divorce and escaping into basketball daydreams.
Vial
Director: Alexandre Jerard Davis
Country: USA; Running Time: 14:14 minutes
Ken, a parolee on the cusp of reconnecting with his family, finds his future in jeopardy when an impromptu drug test threatens to send him back to prison. Desperate to pass the test, Ken finds an unlikely solution with some help from his dealer: a prosthetic penis able to conceal clean urine. But there’s only one problem: he still needs to find the piss.
Vintage Lamp Shade
Directors: Gordy De St. Jeor, Jillian Moray
Country: USA; Running Time: 5:52 minutes
Two girls navigate the balance between romantic and platonic nature within female friendship.
Water Dog
Director: Christina Kelly Holmes
Country: USA; Running Time: 10:52 minutes
Guy, a disillusioned millennial man, bumps into Dan, an old classmate, and meets his new wife. But there’s something off about her. However, no one, including Guy’s girlfriend he dragged out, says anything. Sucked into an awkward dinner followed by a pregnancy announcement, Guy wonders how Dan has gotten further in life than him.
The Weight of a Dog
Director: Lucy Sandler
Country: USA; Running Time: 15:37 minutes
The Weight of a Dog follows new retiree Dawn’s trip to chaperone her adult daughter’s abortion and explores Dawn’s unexpected revelations around her own life and its next phase that this experience brings up for her.