Opening night at the inaugural Napa Valley Film Festival began with a walk along a red carpet into the city’s refurbished  Napa Valley Opera House, a grand name for a frontier theater dating back to 1880. Screen actors, a few  industry executives, and a good sampling of Napa locals (some dressed glamorously in boas and satin evening gowns, others in work boots and down vests) sipped on wine and nibbled ice cream lollipops from Napa’s Eiko restaurant.

Catherine Thorpe, who helped research both The House of Mondavi and Lost Kingdom, joined me at the opening reception, where we quickly spotted a bespectacled man wearing a lei, or garland, of green leaves. Making our way through the crowd, we introduced ourselves.