Romance will be in the air — and on screens across Healdsburg — when a new film festival devoted to love in all its forms arrives in northern Sonoma County this month.
True West Film Center, the nonprofit that operates the three-screen True West Cinemas in downtown Healdsburg, has unveiled the lineup for its inaugural Film Festival of Love, a five-day celebration of classic and contemporary cinema running June 24-28.
The festival marks the nonprofit’s first major film festival since opening True West Cinemas at the James Redford Campus last fall.
Under the direction of former Sundance Film Festival leader John Cooper, the event is designed less as a conventional film festival than a thematic exploration of one of cinema’s most enduring subjects.
“I didn’t want to do a conventional film festival,” he said. “I wanted to do it around a theme.”
True West Film Center’s artistic director, John Cooper in downtown Healdsburg, May 22, 2025. (Chad Surmick / The Press Democrat)
The red carpet is rolled out for dinner and screening of “Almost Famous” at the True West Film Center James Redford Campus, Friday, April 17, 2026, in Healdsburg. (Kent Porter / The Press Democrat)
The five-day event features narrative and documentary films curated by Cooper from festivals around the world, alongside classic films selected by guest curators from regional media outlets.
The idea offered both focus and flexibility. Love, he said, encompasses far more than romance, allowing the festival to move between genres, generations and cultures while maintaining a common thread.
After years of programming serious independent films at Sundance, Cooper said he was also eager to create something joyful.
True West’s Film Festival of Love opens June 24 in Healdsburg. (Israel Valencia / Infinity Visuals)
The Film Festival of Love opens June 24 with a free community block party at the Foley Family Community Pavilion, featuring restaurant pop-ups, local wine and beer, and live music. Photo taken Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026. (Christopher Chung/The Press Democrat)
Opening night under the stars
The festival opens June 24 with a free community block party at the Foley Family Community Pavilion, featuring restaurant pop-ups, local wine and beer, and live music. The evening concludes with an outdoor screening of the 1987 romantic comedy “Moonstruck,” the Oscar-winning film that earned Cher the Academy Award for Best Actress. Admission to the party is free, though reservations are recommended for film seating.
Outdoor screenings continue at West Plaza Park with two beloved classics: Mike Nichols’ 1996 comedy “The Birdcage” on June 25 and Jacques Demy’s 1964 musical romance “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg” on June 26, starring Catherine Deneuve and set to Michel Legrand’s soaring score.
True West’s Film Festival of Love opens June 24 in Healdsburg and will feature several outdoor screenings. (Israel Valencia / Infinity Visuals)
On June 27, the festival’s marquee event, Amore per Tutti (“Love for All”), takes over the Piazza at Bacchus Landing for an evening of Italian-inspired food, wine and cinema. Guests will enjoy a seated dinner by Catelli’s, pairings from Bacchus Collective wineries and music by the baroque string ensemble Beneath a Tree before an outdoor screening of “Roman Holiday,” the 1953 romance starring Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck.
The timing of the festival was intentional.
“Healdsburg’s a sweet town in the summer,” he said.
Theatrical poster for the American release of the American romantic comedy film Roman Holiday (1953).
Publicity photo of Audrey Hepburn & Gregory Peck taken for the film Roman Holiday (1953).
Love beyond romance
While classic romances anchor portions of the program, Cooper said the festival’s larger goal is to explore the many ways love shapes people’s lives.
“It’s not just about rom-coms,” he said. “It’s films that explore the whole notion of love in life.”
As Cooper describes it, the festival examines “romance, friendship, family ties, longing, heartbreak, joy, and all the beautiful, complicated ways we find one another.”
Among the contemporary selections is “Come See Me in the Good Light,” the acclaimed documentary following two poets as they navigate an incurable cancer diagnosis. The festival will also screen Edward Burns’ new drama “Finnegan’s Foursome,” about brothers reconnecting during a trip to Ireland to scatter their father’s ashes, and the 2024 coming-of-age comedy “My Old Ass,” in which a teenager encounters her 39-year-old self after a psychedelic experience.
Several international films broaden the festival’s perspective on love and human connection.
The lineup includes “Ky Nam Inn,” a Vietnamese drama about a young translator and an older widow who form an unlikely bond in postwar Saigon; the Peruvian film “Undertow,” a love story set in a conservative fishing village; and the French box-office hit “You Found Me,” in which a woman who communicates with the dead develops a connection with a recently deceased man.
“I believe that even if you come to one film at this festival, I want it to tell you what this festival was about,” Cooper said. “And I didn’t want it to be so saccharine-sweet on everything either.”
More than movies
Beyond feature films, the festival includes a shorts program, happy-hour gatherings at local tasting rooms from June 25-27 and two secret screenings.
The festival concludes June 28 with “The Cycle of Love,” a 2025 documentary about a Delhi street artist who bicycled 6,000 miles in 1977 to reunite with the woman he loved. A closing-night reception in the courtyard of True West Cinemas, featuring wine and hors d’oeuvres, will follow the screening.
For True West founder and executive director Kathryn Philip, the festival is also an extension of the organization’s longstanding mission to build community through cinema.
“In a time of extreme divisiveness, here is a program of films and events designed to bring people together,” Philip said.
Tickets start at $22 and go on sale June 9.
If you go
What: True West Film Festival of Love
When: June 24-28, 2026
6 p.m. June 24: Opening Night: Block Party and Moonstruck
7:30 p.m. June 25: Movies Under the Stars: The Birdcage
7:30 p.m. June 26: Movies Under the Stars: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg
6:30 p.m. June 27: Amore Per Tutti: Seated Dinner and Roman Holiday
5 p.m. June 28: Festival Finale: The Cycle of Love
Where: True West Cinemas (371 Healdsburg Ave.), Foley Family Community Pavilion (3 North St.), Bacchus Landing (14210 Bacchus Landing Way), West Plaza Park and additional venues in Healdsburg.
Admission: From $20
Tickets and program: truewestfilmcenter.org/film-festival