With over 90 minutes to go until show time, Dolores Park appeared inconceivably full.

Despite Team USA’s first World Cup match taking place at the same time, fans of outdoor cinema showed up in droves on Friday, June 12, to mark the first event in a packed summer series of outdoor film screenings courtesy of Sundown Cinema.

From dogs frolicking in the grass to the delicious smells of a thousand take-out orders being spread on blankets, San Franciscans showed up in full force to catch Rob Reiner’s beloved fantasy-romcom The Princess Bride and soak in the weather on a sublimely windless evening.

Following two successful showings last September and October, Sundown Cinema returns in 2026 with support from major sponsor Amazon, who continues to help San Francisco thrive through its support of numerous community programs and events like Let’s Glow SF.

San Francisco’s (opens in new tab)Downtown Ambassador (opens in new tab) program, for instance, places friendly faces at the Embarcadero and Montgomery BART stations every morning to provide help and good cheer to locals and visitors alike. Since its implementation, there has been an eye-popping 53% reduction in safety incidents. Amazon’s support also helps to power local cultural institutions that include SFJazz, SF Opera, SF Ballet, ACT Theatre, and the SF Gay Men’s Chorus.

Amazon also provided one lucky raffle winner with a $1000 gift card before Friday’s screening got underway. The winner, Vanessa Picton, later shared with SF Standard staff that she intends to spread the love even further by giving her prize to her mom. Indeed, a sentiment of generosity and community prevailed on a night that doubled as a donation campaign for the (opens in new tab)San Francisco-Marin Food Bank (opens in new tab).

Speaking before the screening, SF Standard Senior Awesomeness Reporter Astrid Kane directed those with donations to leave them in a sponsor van parked near a row of popular food trucks and booths. An impressively full spread of desired items including cereal, couscous, and canned goods would amass in the vehicle before the night’s end, headed for the San Francisco-Marin Food Bank. In total, attendees donated over 271 lbs of food. 

There were also snacks to be grabbed courtesy of Amazon’s booth, where complimentary popcorn bags went fast as part of the company’s commitment to supporting small businesses that include San Francisco favorites like Fellow, Nana Joe’s Granola (opens in new tab), ASM Games, and more.

After shouting out Sundown Cinema’s partner Noise Pop, Kane then invited District 8 Supervisor Rafael Mandelman to join them for an impromptu round of Princess Bride trivia.

Though Mandelman confessed to having never seen the film (after briefly mistaking the title being screened as the San Francisco-set The Princess Diaries), he managed to go five for five in the exchange thanks to help from a supportive crowd — and a little extra in-the-moment insight.

“I just want to say,” Mandelman said with a laugh, “the photographer up here is taking pity on me and mouthing the correct answers.”

Mandelman also made sure to recognize those responsible for keeping Sundown Cinema, which formed back in 2003, alive for future generations to enjoy.

“While I am here,” he continued, “I do want to say thank you to the San Francisco Standard. Sundown Cinema is an amazing tradition that goes back more than 20 years in San Francisco. [When] that tradition was thrown into doubt, the Standard stepped forward to keep it alive and now they’ve come back again with their sponsors to keep it going. Thank you San Francisco Standard for bringing us the news and thank you for giving us Sundown Cinema.”

It was at this point that Mandelman welcomed the SF Standard team to join him to receive a Certificate of Honor in recognition for hosting the Sundown Cinema program and sustaining free arts programming for San Franciscans. Among those who accepted the honor was Editor-in-Chief Kevin Delaney.

With the sun threatening to finally cede the sky and allow the screening to begin, Delaney offered a few inspiring observations about the event’s featured title and what a news source dedicated to the city it covers can achieve.

“As many of you know, the story of ‘The Princess Bride’ is a story about people who refuse to give up,” Delaney said. “They refuse to give up on a princess, on a mostly dead man, on a city, despite unreasonable odds. As San Franciscans, we know that story.”

Comparing the tale that began as a William Goldsmith novel to peoples’ willingness to give up on San Francisco in recent years, Delaney laid out what makes the SF Standard’s coverage worthy of a city unlike any other on the planet.  

“We founded San Francisco Standard because we didn’t want to give up on San Francisco. We wanted to give San Francisco the news coverage that it deserved. We wanted to bring it serious reporting. We wanted to dig in more and cover this place how it deserves to be covered. That reporting sometimes makes people uncomfortable. We also bring humor and think of this city as a protagonist in the narrative of our lives and our news. If you already read the Standard, we thank you. And if you don’t yet, we’d love for you to subscribe.”

Sweeting the pot was the prospect of scoring an adorable SF Standard picnic blanket for a year’s subscription. Elsewhere, Noise Pop provided a Kid Zone complete with oversized tic-tac-toe sets, corn hole boards, and hula hoops.

Complimenting both the organizational efforts and community components integral to making Sundown Cinema successful, Sophie Diaz, 29, shared why she and her sister, Rose, 34, both residents of the Mission, were so excited to be in attendance.

“I’ve probably been to about ten of these over the years,” Diaz estimated, “and I was really bummed when I thought this whole thing might end last year. Instead, I’m about to see my favorite movie on, like, a perfect San Francisco evening. We’re stoked!”

Fortunately, the merriment will continue all summer as the series continues with screenings of Pixar’s Inside Out at the Presidio Civil War Parade Ground (July 24), The Parent Trap at Marina Green (Aug. 21), School of Rock at the Ferry Building (Sept. 25), and a Halloween season finale of Beetlejuice at Crane Cove Park (Oct. 16).

For more information, please visit sfstandard.com/sundown-cinema.