Sundown Cinema, Beloved Outdoor Film Series, Has Been Canceled

After layoffs and reports of financial disarray at the San Francisco Parks Alliance, the nonprofit’s Sundown Cinema film series has been canceled. The open-air movie screenings, staged for free in city parks throughout the summer and fall, had been an annual draw since 2003.

“We are not going to be able to do it as it currently stands,” Robert Ogilvie, the CEO of SF Parks Alliance, told KQED. “These are very difficult decisions to suspend these things that we’re famous for and much loved for.”

The cinema program traditionally starts in mid-May and runs through mid-October. Ogilvie confirmed the SF Parks Alliance has no remaining event or programming staff, and cannot afford to run the program, which he estimates costs $30,000–$40,000 per event to produce.

“Some of the partners we worked with may be able to pick it up,” Ogilvie said.

Noise Pop, which previously partnered with the SF Parks Alliance via DoTheBay, confirmed that their involvement on the project ended with last year’s final screening. A June 7 Sundown Cinema screening of Wicked announced for the Yerba Buena Gardens Festival will proceed as planned, with the festival taking on production of the event on their own.

Last year, the Sundown Cinema schedule spanned seven films in seven locations around San Francisco, including a Dolores Park sing-along screening of Selena, a presentation by Rick Prelinger of his Lost Landscapes series at Duboce Park and a Halloween-themed season closer of The Nightmare Before Christmas at McClaren Park’s Jerry Garcia Amphitheater.

The SF Parks Alliance helps fund capital projects and public events at San Francisco parks, and acts as a fiscal sponsor for small community organizations like the Buena Vista Neighborhood Association and Friends of Balboa Park. Recent reporting by the San Francisco Chronicle found that the SF Parks Alliance has struggled in recent months to reimburse these community partners for expenses in a timely manner.

The SF Parks Alliance’s financial situation is precarious. Its most recent available tax filings show a deficit of nearly $5.6 million. Eight staff members were laid off in late 2024; another six employees were laid off this month, leaving just seven full-time staff members.

In late April, the San Francisco Film Festival partnered with the SF Parks Alliance for a pre-season screening of The Fog at the Presidio’s Civil War Parade Ground. The rest of the summer’s movies were expected to be announced shortly afterward.

Some of the SF Parks Alliance’s other planned events, like a series of Park Markets at Crane Cove, were canceled before they were announced to the public.

Small business owners and artists who had been accepted as vendors at the upcoming July 19, Aug. 23 and Oct. 18 Park Markets were notified via email that the markets were canceled due to “budget cuts.” Doug MacNeil, who sells journals made from recycled materials under the moniker Recover Your Thoughts, had already sent in his table fees for two of the dates.

“In the email I was told I’d be reimbursed,” MacNeil wrote to KQED. “I suppose I’ll just have to wait.”