_edited.jpg)
FREE FOR ALL:
THE PUBLIC LIBRARY
This event took place on April 21, 2025
A full audience was inspired by a FREE local premiere of Free for All: The Public Library, the vibrant 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 engaged in conversation and a Q&A session. Filmmakers Dawn Logsdon and Lucie Faulknor lent personal insight; moderator Deborah Doyle, president of United for Libraries, a regional and national leader in library advocacy, added more context and perspective. St. Helena Public Library's City Librarian, Mara Strickler, was with us as well.
The importance of advocacy on behalf of public libraries was a strong theme. Click here to learn from ALA about how to show up for libraries!
Local businesses and supporters offered fantastic items and experiences for a fundraising raffle. And donations to offset program costs were welcomed. Those contributions and raffle ticket purchases really helped offset the cost of this event. Thank you!
Friends and Foundation was 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 nonprofit rates or corporate contributions that also reduced the cost of presenting this event for our community.
We laughed, we cried, as we learned 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 to 7:30 PM
This popular event focused on education, advocacy, and celebration.
Every seat was reserved!
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.
Meet the Speakers
Dawn Logsdon Producer/Director/Narrator
For generations, Dawn Logsdon's family members have relied on, contributed to, and shaped public libraries. Her investigation into the origins and evolution of such libraries led her to make the compelling documentary screened today.
Dawn has been dedicated to making films about civic issues and city life, particularly at the neighborhood level. She directed and produced Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans (2008), which premiered at the Tribeca International Film Festival. It won the SFIFF Golden Gate Award for Best Documentary and was a PBS Black History Month feature presentation three years in a row.
Lucie Faulknor
Producer/Co-Director
Lucie Faulknor has worked with award-winning directors Dorothy Fadiman and Lynn Hershman-Leeson in the areas of fundraising, publicity, outreach and community engagement. Faulknor also produced and researched Faubourg Treme: The Untold Story of Black New Orleans and has produced Dublin, Ireland's first Women in Film & Television film festival.
Deborah Doyle
Moderator
Public Library Advocate
Deborah Doyle is a regional and national leader whose deep understanding of public libraries and positive approach to sharing all that libraries offer make her an ideal moderator for our program.
Currently president of the national organization United for Libraries, Deborah also is Chair of the Sonoma County Library Commission. She is a past President of the California Library Association (CLA), former Executive Director of the Friends of the San Francisco Public Library, and led California Public Library Advocates.