With a rich history spanning decades, the Sequoia Cinema has been a cornerstone of entertainment for residents and visitors alike. Under the stewardship of CAFILM, the cinema is poised to continue its legacy of delivering exceptional film screenings and events that cater to diverse audiences, including the presentation of the renowned Mill Valley Film Festival. CFI took over from Cinemark, the Plano, Texas-based movie theater giant that had a long-term lease on the Sequoia, operating it as the CineArts Sequoia on a lease that ran through September 2023.
“We are thrilled to announce the reopening of the Sequoia Cinema under the CAFILM umbrella,” said Mark Fishkin, Executive Director and Founder of the California Film Institute. “The Sequoia holds a special place in the hearts of many, and we are excited to welcome patrons back for the movie-watching experience. While a full renovation is planned for the future, our current priority is to provide a welcoming environment for our community to enjoy fantastic films. We’re eager to reconnect with our loyal patrons and share the magic of the big screen with them.”
With competition from the likes of Netflix, Amazon and everything-on-demand, CFI founder Mark Fishkin says it’s vital that community theaters like the Rafael and the Sequoia truly engage with the community itself. “It’s critical that the theater is deeply involved in the community and delivers great value to the community in order to make it sustainable,” he says.
Fishkin is on the board of Art House Convergence, an organization of independent theater owners who gather each year at the Sundance Film Festival to explore new ideas and business models for independent movie houses, particularly in the age of so many innovative distribution channels for film.
Designed by the Reid Brothers of San Francisco and built by Blumenthal Theaters, Inc. for $125,000, the Sequoia opened as a single screen theater in February 1929, the same year as the stock market crash. Records at the Mill Valley Library’s Lucretia Little History Room indicate that the theater was named by Ralph Kliewe, a local student who won a naming contest and thus got to watch movies there for free for a year.
The opening night featured the films “Uncle Tom” and “The Kid’s Clever,” a sports review by Grantland Rice as well as vaudeville acts, speeches and a performance on a Wurlitzer organ. Blumenthal owned and operated the theater for nearly 50 years. Blumenthal “twinned” the theater in 1875 by turning it into a two-screen house, and Pacific Theatres took it over one year later, making subsequent repairs in 1991.
The theater underwent a $1 million renovation In 1999 by Plath & Company, and two years later, Pacific sold its Marin business to San Rafael-based Century Theatres. In 2004, the movie house’s roof collapsed during a showing of the film “Garden State” just days before MVFF was set to begin. The damage forced the festival to move the bulk of its events to the Rafael, save for those that could be accommodated by the Throckmorton Theatre.
In 2006, Cinemark acquired Century Theatres, and has operated the theater as CineArts Sequoia ever since. Throughout all those years, the Blumenthal family continued to own the building, selling it to CFI and its investors in 2008.
The eventual realization of the goal to renovate the Sequoia would truly put the Mill Valley Film Festival on the best possible footing to be successful and sustainable for decades to come, Fishkin says.
“We’re fully aware of the concerns when people says, ‘Why do you ask us to drive from an opening event at the Outdoor Art Club up to the Rafael for a screening’” Fishkin says. “Well, there’s no stage at the Sequoia, or lighting for a Q&A after the film. It will surely be great to eventually have those amenities.”
Along with the benefits to MVFF, Fishkin says the Sequoia restoration will even further deepen CFI’s ties to Mill Valley, where he founded the festival in 1977. “Student in San Rafael walk to educational screenings at the Rafael like those for the Environmental Youth Forum,” he says. “We can’t wait to have Tam High kids do the same.”