The name of one of cinema’s pre-eminent modern actors is now mentioned in the same breath as Healdsburg’s own True West Film Center. On Sunday, Sept. 22, the town’s nonprofit film organization broke ground on its new James Redford Campus in downtown Healdsburg.
The three-screen-plus-classroom campus is named for the late documentary filmmaker and environmentalist. The naming signifies a new alignment with The Redford Center, a nonprofit “solely dedicated to environmental impact filmmaking.” The organization was founded in Sundance, Utah, in 2005 by James and his father, Robert Redford. It moved to San Francisco in 2010. James Redford died in 2020, and now his son Dylan Redford occupies the Center’s board chair.
The executive director of The Redford Center, Jill Tidman, was among the group that grabbed golden shovels to make the first dig for the new facility.
When finished, the James Redford Center will include three screening rooms, space for the organization’s media arts education programs and the annual True West Film Festival (formerly the AVFilm Festival).
To date, donors have committed a total of $3.1 million towards the $5.6 million capital campaign, including the anonymous grant of $1 million that came with the naming rights for the James Redford Center.
“The gift and the dedication also memorialize a relationship that we, at True West Film Center, are going to have with the Redford Center in San Francisco, whereby we will premier environmental documentaries throughout the year,” said Hillary Kambour, True West’s board chair.
Film Lover’s Community
Kambour gave up her own acting dreams to work in appellate law in New York and Miami, but was delighted to find a local film community when she retired to Healdsburg. She remembered discovering movies at the Gateway Theater in San Francisco when she was a child. After a day of watching three Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers movies in a row, “I was hooked,” she said. “When I learned how to take the bus down there by myself, I went every opportunity. And I really learned the whole classic cinema catalog.”
The True West Film Center, or perhaps henceforth the Redford Center, promises a variety of films, not just environmental documentaries or 1940s Hollywood dance flicks. Two of the three cinemas will screen first-run movies, and the third theater will present independent and arthouse films—or environmental impact documentaries, from The Redford Center.
In keeping with the organization’s stated mission to provide equitable access to cinematic experiences, the theater promises Spanish-language programming, discounted tickets for locals night and senior matinees.
The three new theaters are designed by Tom Rael Architects for seating capacities of about 26, 34 and 56 customers. Theaters will be equipped with Christie Digital laser projectors and Dolby Sound equipment.
A lobby and indoor snack bar will service the three screening rooms and a designated patio outside the doors in the currently under-utilized courtyard at 371 Healdsburg Ave.
Board chair Kambour, who had just returned from the Toronto International Film Festival, had an unexpected reaction to the glamor. “It was super fun to see all these great movies and see some big stars, but what I didn’t really expect was the thrill that I had, watching a movie with a ton of people screaming and laughing and, and reacting,” she recalled.
“So many times that feeling of community that comes when you’re experiencing something that moves you, together—that’s what I’m most looking forward to with this film center; going back to that and throwing popcorn at the bad guys,” she said.
Expectations for The Redford Center are high. True West predicts that over three years it will “generate $2 million in new economic activity for Sonoma County,” with 43,000 customers.
Construction is now underway, with the campus scheduled to open in the summer of 2025. According to the optimistic Kambour, “Nobody has a crystal ball about construction, but we’re hoping we’re going to have 2025 summer blockbusters in our brand-new theater.”
Popcorn at the ready.
