Healdsburg has been without a movie theater since the Raven Film Center shut down in 2020. John Cooper, a longtime film industry executive and Sonoma County native, will be the guy who brings the movies back to town.
Cooper is the new artistic director of the True West Film Center, a nonprofit that is building a three-screen cinema and education center two blocks from the Healdsburg Plaza. The facility is expected to bring even more culture to one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the county. Projectors are scheduled to start rolling this October.
Cooper, 69, certainly has been here and done this before. As director of the Sundance Film Festival from 2010 to 2020, he oversaw all aspects of the annual event, launched the Art House Convergence, and led the festival’s expansion with satellite events in New York, Los Angeles, London, and Hong Kong. In his new role at True West, Cooper will craft and implement the artistic vision guiding all programs, including education, film screenings, and the annual True West Film Festival.
“Movies are a powerful way of both talking to people and uniting people,” he says.
Sonoma County roots
I grew up here and lived in [west] county when I was a kid, up until second grade. I came back about five years ago. One thing that’s always struck me is that there’s a renegade spirit in Sonoma that cannot be denied. With the vineyards and the coast and the forests, it’s beautiful. And with the wine industry and all the great food, it’s sophisticated. True West Film Center is a great place for it all to come together — for locals and visitors alike.
Art-house awesome
When we open, we’ll have three theaters. One will be a straight-up repertory house — we used to call these types of theaters “art house.” They’re the kinds of places where one night [a Stanley] Kubrick [film] will be playing, the next night it will be [a Robert] Altman [film]. The other [theaters] will show first-run movies, the same kinds of movies you would see in any theater anywhere. The whole notion of having to drive…to Santa Rosa to see a film just doesn’t seem right. We’re trying to get people back into the cinema. Why can’t they stay closer to home?
Movies, Healdsburg-style
The experience will be intimate. Guests will be immersed in these images. The sound will be amazing. The seats are big and comfortable. The cinema opens up on a courtyard, which is a great communal place to spend some time. We have a beer and wine license, and there’ll be delicious snacks. We’re looking at doing everything possible to get people there and create good experiences they want to come back to. I want people to start trusting us as an adventure, so they say, “I’m not sure what this movie is, but True West is always good at showing things that are cool, so I trust them.” That’s the goal.
Building community
Theaters are for everyone. They’re not elite, and they shouldn’t feel that way. Museums suffer from elitism. People are a little afraid of them sometimes. This cinema will be “of the people” and “for the people.” We’ll have films and programs that include everyone. We’re also building an educational program founded on this whole idea of media literacy for young people to help them think critically about how they absorb the moving image. True West Film Center will be a cinema and so much more. That’s what makes it different.
True West Film Center, 371 Healdsburg Ave., Healdsburg, truewestfilmcenter.org