FREE FOR ALL:
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
Monday, April 21 4:30 to 7:30 at Cameo Cinema
Be inspired by a FREE local premiere of Free for All: The Public Library, the vibrant new documentary exploring the unique history and purpose of America's essential institution: the public library. Learn about the film below.
After the screening, exceptional presenters engage in conversation and a Q&A session. Filmmakers Dawn Logsdon and Lucie Faulknor will lend personal insight; moderator Deborah Doyle, president of United for Libraries, a regional and national leader in library advocacy, will add more context and perspective. St. Helena Public Library's City Librarian, Mara Strickler, will join in as well.
Local businesses and supporters are offering fantastic items and experiences for a fundraising raffle.
To ensure seats for all, please reserve your FREE TICKETS.
Donations to offset program costs are encouraged. Bring cash and checks for donations or to buy RAFFLE tickets!
Friends and Foundation is proud to present this important program for our community. We thank Cameo Cinema, Serendipity Films, and the St. Helena office of Merrill Lynch for their contributions that reduce the cost of presenting this event for our community.
Come to celebrate, laugh, and get misty as you learn about the people and philosophies that led to the creation and success of America’s public libraries.
Event Details
Where: Cameo Cinema, 1340 Main Street, St. Helena, CA 94574
When: Monday, April 21, 2025 4:30 doors open, 5:00 program starts
Donations Encouraged!
Bring Cash or Checks for the Raffle!
Raffle tickets sold at event: $5 for 1, or $20 for 5 chances to win
Thank you Serendipity Films, Cameo Cinema, and Merrill Lynch
About the Film
Free for All: The Public Library tells the story of the quiet revolutionaries who made a simple idea happen. From the pioneering women behind the “Free Library Movement” to today’s librarians who serve the public with purpose and professionalism despite working in a contentious age of closures and book bans, meet those who nurture a civic institution where everything is free and the doors are open to all.
The documentary is a multi-platform media project about the American public library and what it means to our country. It is told through the voices of some of the millions of Americans who use their local libraries every day, along with those of generations past who forged the library’s starring role in the public commons.
Free for All seeks to inspire, entertain, and spark dialogue and engagement as communities debate the future of their public libraries.
Free For All is a feature-length documentary film, a contemporary road trip to libraries across the United States, intercut with outstanding and rarely seen archival material. Its structure juxtaposes two revolutionary moments in the American library story – the original “Library Movement” that swept the country in late 19th century, and current early 21st century struggle to bring public libraries into the digital age.
The film is a rollicking and visually stunning mosaic of faces, architecture and stories that celebrates the varied American library experience past and present, while investigating the urgent issues libraries face today.
Free for All is a production of Bay Area-based Serendipity Films and is led by Producer/Director Dawn Logsdon and Executive Producer Stanley Nelson. Their team includes Emmy award-winning and Oscar-nominated colleagues whose films have received wide exposure and acclaim over the past thirty years.
