Sundance Film Festival picks Boulder as host city for 2027 and beyond

Los Angeles Times

27-03-2025

The Sundance Film Festival will move to Boulder, Colo., beginning with the 2027 edition, a transformative change for one of the independent film community's key annual events.
Following a vote on Wednesday by the Sundance Institute's board of trustees, the city was chosen over the other two finalists, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City, Utah.
'There was overwhelming support for Boulder,' said Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute's board chair, in an interview on Thursday morning. 'There certainly was robust conversation, but we as a board have been going through this process for about 18 months now, so there's been a lot of consistent conversation and an evolving conversation and evolving process.'
'One of the things that's really important to us is thinking about our ethos,' said Amanda Kelso, Sundance Institute's acting CEO, on Thursday. 'And our ethos is steeped in this notion that Robert Redford had put forward in our founding principles, which is this idea of coming to a place for the Sundance Film Festival that has a sense of space and a sense of place.
'It's an awesome town,' added Kelso. 'It has this wonderful vibe to it. You can go hiking or biking nearby. But it's also an art town, it's a tech town, it's a college town. So it's a really vibrant place.'
It was in April of last year that Sundance formally announced the possibility of leaving the festival's longtime home in Park City, Utah, when a contract with the city was up for renewal beginning in 2027. Some 67 locations submitted requests for information, while requests for proposals then were sent to 13 potential sites, with subsequent visits to six cities that were then narrowed down to the final three.
The festival's move comes at a time when the film industry at large is also undergoing continued uncertainty at all levels, from production to distribution and exhibition. The community around Sundance has been deeply affected by evolving business issues.
'This is a festival that has been undergoing change for the past five years, and this is the next step,' said Eugene Hernandez, Sundance's festival director and head of public programming, on Thursday. 'Sundance as an institute and as a festival, in its commitment to artists, its commitment to being a festival of global discovery, is unchanged and unwavered. And yet at the same time, [it's been] an institute and a festival that has been willing and open to evolve.'
In time, such Boulder venues as Macky Auditorium, the Boulder Theater and the Dairy Arts Center may become as familiar to Sundance attendees as the Eccles Theatre, Egyptian Theatre and Park City Library are to them now.
'I think this is a really important time for us as an institute, but specifically for the festival as well,' said Kelso. 'I think one of the things that we're so excited about is having the space to actually be more expansive in the way that we think about the festival. So this is an opportunity for us to give ourselves space for growth.'
According to materials provided by Sundance Institute, the decision-making process included seven overarching focus areas: ethos, event capability, transportation, hospitality, inclusion and accessibility, financial sustainability and host partner support.
Among the factors under consideration were whether there was at least one performance hall with capacity for 1300 people for film premieres, at least six screening spaces with capacities ranging from 150 to 1300, an international airport with direct flights from Los Angeles, New York, London and Paris within three hours of the location, lodging within a 25-mile radius for a peak of 30,000 people and any preexisting contracts that might overlap or impact infrastructure or operational capacity, such as the Olympics.
Both Salt Lake City and Cincinnati were perceived as blue cities within red states, while Boulder is seen as a blue city in a blue state. With controversial legislative proposals now being considered in both Utah and Ohio that would be in conflict with the inclusive worldview that is an intrinsic part of Sundance, the move to Boulder seemingly lessens what could have been a source of increasing tensions for the festival.
'What we've been looking at is how do we evolve?' said Burnough. 'And one of the great things that Bob Redford instilled in our ethos as an institution is evolving and taking risks and not being afraid. And so politics hasn't weighed on us. We've always dealt with the politics as it comes. We loved all three of the cities that were the finalist cities. And they all showed up in really strong ways. But the alchemy that led us to Boulder was just a very special mix.'
In a statement, Colorado Governor Jared Polis said, 'Here in our state we celebrate the arts and film industry as a key economic driver, job creator and important contributor to our thriving culture. Now, with the addition of the iconic Sundance Film Festival, we can expect even more jobs, a huge benefit for our small businesses including stores and restaurants.'
In its more than 40 years in Utah, the Sundance Film Festival has helped boost filmmakers including Quentin Tarantino, Ava DuVernay, Steven Soderbergh, Ryan Coogler and countless others, while seeing the film industry through multiple eras of change. The festival will now try to create a new home in Boulder as it moves with the industry into an uncertain future.
'As change is inevitable, we must always evolve and grow, which has been at the core of our survival,' said Robert Redford, Sundance Institute president and founder, in a statement. 'This move will ensure that the festival continues its work of risk taking, supporting innovative storytellers, fostering independence, and entertaining and enlightening audiences. I am grateful to the Boulder community for its support, and I look forward to seeing what the future holds for the festival there.'
The final Sundance Film Festival in Utah, with in-person events in Park City and Salt Lake City, will take place Jan. 22 to Feb. 1, 2026.