Bolinas has never been an easy town to find, and that's part of the point. Each September, this small coastal community becomes the setting for the Bolinas Film Festival, a nonprofit celebration of independent film now heading into its fourth year. The 2026 festival runs September 17–20, bringing screenings, panels, and communal meals to a town of a few hundred people that has quietly become one of Marin's most distinctive cultural weekends.
A Historic Theater at the Center
The festival's main venue is Calvary Presbyterian Church, a white clapboard church built in 1877 that was famously cut in half and moved into town by horse and wooden rollers in 1898. During the festival, it's transformed into "The Starlight Theater" — blackout blinds, a pulley-hoisted screen, and a full sound system turning a 19th-century sanctuary into a village movie house for four days.
What's on the Schedule
Thursday, September 17 opens with the Gala Night at 6:00 PM, followed Friday evening by Dinner & a Movie at the Coast Café, featuring the 2026 documentary American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez, directed by David Alvarado. All-access Duxbury and Alamere passes are available now through the festival's website; individual film tickets and the full 2026 schedule are still being finalized, so it's worth checking closer to the date. The weekend also spills outdoors with the Starlight Series screenings in town and a closing celebration at Smiley's Saloon.
Event Details
Event: Bolinas Film Festival (4th Annual)
Dates: September 17–20, 2026
Main Venue: Calvary Church / Starlight Theater, 5 Brighton Ave, Bolinas, CA 94924
Passes: Duxbury Pass and Alamere Pass, on sale now
Learn More & Tickets: Bolinas Film Festival
For anyone weighing a home in West Marin, weekends like this capture something true about towns like Bolinas: small, close-knit, and shaped as much by community as by the coastline itself.
Sources: Bolinas Film Festival (bolinasfilmfestival.com), Marin Magazine, Historical Marker Database
