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Associated Press
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Associated Press
So long, Park City. Sundance Film Festival to relocate to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027
After a yearlong search, the Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colorado, keeping Sundance in the mountains but moving it out of Park City, the Utah ski town that had for decades provided the premier independent film gathering its picturesque snowy backdrop. Organizers said that after 40 years in the mountains, the festival had outgrown Park City, and lacked the necessary theaters or affordable housing to continue hosting what has become one of North America's most sprawling movie events. Sundance had narrowed down the options to Salt Lake City (with a smaller presence in Park City), Cincinnati and Boulder. Boulder emerged as their choice due to its close proximity to nature, its small-town charm and an engaged community that, organizer said, provides Sundance the ideal setting for its future. 'Boulder is a tech town, it's a college town, it's an arts town, and it's a mountain town,' Amanda Kelso, acting chief executive of the Sundance Institute, said in an interview Thursday from Boulder. 'At 100,000 people, a larger town than Park City, it gives us the space to expand.' Kelso, Sundance Institute board chair Ebs Burnough and Eugene Hernandez, director of the festival and head of programming, spoke shortly before announcing the festival's move in Boulder. Local officials, who helped lure Sundance with $34 million in tax credits over 10 years, applauded the decision. '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,' Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (Dem.) said in a statement. Reacting to the decision, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said Thursday that Sundance will come to regret leaving Utah. 'As I've said from the beginning, we wanted Sundance to stay,' Cox said in a statement. 'We made that clear to their leadership and put together a highly competitive package. Ultimately, this decision is theirs to make, but I believe it's a mistake and that, one day, they'll realize they left behind not just a place, but their heritage.' A change endorsed by Sundance founder Robert Redford A shift from Park City to Boulder means Sundance stays in the mountains but trades a luxury ski resort enclave for a growing, outdoorsy small city. The mile-high Colorado city set in the foothills of the Rockies also maintains a sense of surrounding nature — something organizers stressed as a major factor in their decision. Boulder's four-block pedestrian mall on Pearl Street, with nearby theaters, could provide a similar sense of central hub like Park City's Main Street. The Macky Auditorium, on the University of Colorado campus, is expected to be a central stage for Sundance. The Sundance Institute was founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, who sought a location far from Hollywood to foster independent voices in film. In 1984, the institute took over the Sundance Film Festival, but the nonprofit's mission of helping young filmmakers grow through labs and workshops — Redford's real passion — continued year-round away from the festival. The 88-year-old Redford, who attended the University of Colorado in Boulder in his youth, gave the move his blessing. 'Words cannot express the sincere gratitude I have for Park City, the state of Utah, and all those in the Utah community that have helped to build the organization,' Redford said in a statement. 'What we've created is remarkably special and defining. As change is inevitable, we must always evolve and grow, which has been at the core of our survival.' How Sundance chose its new home The festival made 'ethos and equity values' one of its criteria, prompting many to wonder how much local politics would influence the choice by Sundance, which emphasizes inclusivity. Cox is currently weighing a bill that would ban the flying of certain flags at schools and government buildings, including the LGBTQ pride flag. Organizers said Boulder's 'welcoming environment aligns with the ethos the Sundance Film Festival developed in Park City.' 'This process started 18 months ago and we've been in Utah for 40 years. So politics really didn't guide the process,' Burnough said Thursday. 'It was really and truly about evolution. That's where it landed. We didn't constantly spend time examining what bill was going forward or may or may not be signed.' With its current contract expiration date looming, the hunt for a new host city began in earnest in April 2024. The initial group of six contenders also included Atlanta, Louisville, Kentucky and Santa Fe, New Mexico. What Sundance has meant for Park City, and the film world Before packing up, Sundance will have one last edition in Park City in January 2026. 'The Sundance Film Festival will be the Sundance Film Festival wherever we go. What's consistent is our mission,' said Hernandez. 'This is a festival of global discovery. What's exciting about Boulder is this is a place we can build.' Over the years, Sundance in Park City swelled into a premier marketplace for American film, drawing studio executives and parka-wearing celebrities into the Wasatch mountains every January. It helped launch countless filmmakers over the years, from Steven Soderbergh ('Sex, Lies and Videotape') to Ryan Coogler ('Fruitvale Station'). Sundance scored its first best picture winner with 'CODA' in 2022. Sundance meant big business for Utah and Park City. In 2024, the festival had some 72,840 in-person attendees, 24,200 of whom were coming from out of state. According to the festival's economic impact report, out-of-state visitors spent an estimated $106.4 million in Utah during the festival. Its total economic impact was estimated to be $132 million, with 1,730 jobs for Utah residents and $69.7 million in Utah wages. But the festival had also sparred with local ski resorts — Park City's other major money maker — as festivalgoers filled the hotels and left the slopes virtually empty for two weeks during peak ski season. The festival was a boon to some local businesses, but a hindrance to others. For visitors flying into the 10-day festival, ballooning rental costs increasingly factored into attending. All three top contenders budgeted millions to lure the lucrative festival to their city. Cincinnati set aside $2.5 million for Sundance and another $2.5 million to come if it was chosen. Salt Lake City offered Sundance $3.5 million to stay in Utah. Sundance's relocation puts two of the top U.S. film festivals in Colorado. The Telluride Film Festival, held further west in the state, runs in late August.
Fox News
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Fox News
So long, Park City. Sundance Film Festival to relocate to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027
After a yearlong search, the Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colorado, keeping Sundance in the mountains but moving it out of Park City, the Utah ski town that had for decades provided the premier independent film gathering its picturesque snowy backdrop. Organizers said that after 40 years in the mountains, the festival had outgrown Park City, and lacked the necessary theaters or affordable housing to continue hosting what has become one of North America's most sprawling movie events. Sundance had narrowed down the options to Salt Lake City (with a smaller presence in Park City), Cincinnati and Boulder. Boulder emerged as their choice due to its close proximity to nature, its small-town charm and an engaged community that, organizer said, provides Sundance the ideal setting for its future. "Boulder is a tech town, it's a college town, it's an arts town, and it's a mountain town," Amanda Kelso, acting chief executive of the Sundance Institute, said in an interview Thursday from Boulder. "At 100,000 people, a larger town than Park City, it gives us the space to expand." Kelso, Sundance Institute board chair Ebs Burnough and Eugene Hernandez, director of the festival and head of programming, spoke shortly before announcing the festival's move in Boulder. Local officials, who helped lure Sundance with $34 million in tax credits over 10 years, applauded the decision. "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," Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (Dem.) said in a statement. Reacting to the decision, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (Rep.) said Thursday that Sundance will come to regret leaving Utah. "As I've said from the beginning, we wanted Sundance to stay," Cox said in a statement. "We made that clear to their leadership and put together a highly competitive package. Ultimately, this decision is theirs to make, but I believe it's a mistake and that, one day, they'll realize they left behind not just a place, but their heritage." A changed endorsed by Sundance founder Robert Redford A shift from Park City to Boulder means Sundance stays at altitude but gives up being located in an expensive ski town. The mile-high Colorado city set in the foothills of the Rockies also maintains a sense of surrounding nature — something organizers stressed as a factor in their decision. Boulder's four-block pedestrian mall on Pearl Street, with nearby theaters, could also provide a similar sense of central hub like Park City's Main Street. The Macky Auditorium, on the University of Colorado campus, is expected to be a central stage for Sundance. The Sundance Institute was founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, who sought a location far from Hollywood to foster independent voices in film. In 1984, the institute took over the Sundance Film Festival, but the nonprofit's mission of helping young filmmakers grow through labs and workshops — Redford's real passion — continued year-round away from the festival. The 88-year-old Redford, who attended the University of Colorado in Boulder in his youth, gave the move his blessing. "Words cannot express the sincere gratitude I have for Park City, the state of Utah, and all those in the Utah community that have helped to build the organization," Redford said in a statement. "What we've created is remarkably special and defining. As change is inevitable, we must always evolve and grow, which has been at the core of our survival." How Sundance chose its new home The festival made "ethos and equity values" one of its criteria, prompting many to wonder how much local politics would influence the choice by Sundance, which emphasizes inclusivity. Gov. Cox is currently weighing a bill that would ban the flying of certain flags at schools and government buildings, including the LGBTQ pride flag. Organizers said Boulder's "welcoming environment aligns with the ethos the Sundance Film Festival developed in Park City." "This process started 18 months ago and we've been in Utah for 40 years. So politics really didn't guide the process," Burnough said Thursday. "It was really and truly about evolution. That's where it landed. We didn't constantly spend time examining what bill was going forward or may or may not be signed." With its current contract expiration date looming, the hunt for a new host city began in earnest in April 2024. The initial group of six contenders also included Atlanta, Louisville, Kentucky and Santa Fe, New Mexico. What Sundance has meant for Park City, and the film world Before packing up, Sundance will have one last edition in Park City in January 2026. "The Sundance Film Festival will be the Sundance Film Festival wherever we go. What's consistent is our mission," said Hernandez. "This is a festival of global discovery. What's exciting about Boulder is this is a place we can build." Over the years, Sundance in Park City swelled into a premier marketplace for American film, drawing studio executives and parka-wearing celebrities into the Wasatch mountains every January. It helped launch countless filmmakers over the years, from Steven Soderbergh ("Sex, Lies and Videotape") to Ryan Coogler ("Fruitvale Station"). Sundance scored its first best picture winner with "CODA" in 2022. Sundance meant big business for Utah and Park City. In 2024, the festival had some 72,840 in-person attendees, 24,200 of whom were coming from out of state. According to the festival's economic impact report, out-of-state visitors spent an estimated $106.4 million in Utah during the festival. Its total economic impact was estimated to be $132 million, with 1,730 jobs for Utah residents and $69.7 million in Utah wages. But the festival had also sparred with local ski resorts — Park City's other major money maker — as festivalgoers filled the hotels and left the slopes virtually empty for two weeks during peak ski season. The festival was a boon to some local businesses, but a hindrance to others. For visitors flying into the 10-day festival, ballooning rental costs increasingly factored into attending. All three top contenders budgeted millions to lure the lucrative festival to their city. Cincinnati set aside $2.5 million for Sundance and another $2.5 million to come if it was chosen. Salt Lake City offered Sundance $3.5 million to stay in Utah. Sundance's relocation puts two of the top U.S. film festivals in Colorado. The Telluride Film Festival, held further west in the state, runs in late August.
Los Angeles Times
27-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Los Angeles Times
Sundance Film Festival picks Boulder as host city for 2027 and beyond
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.
Axios
23-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Axios
Top things to do in Denver this spring
It's time to start planning for those sunny afternoons and cool evenings in Colorado this spring. Zoom in: We've plucked some of the best events and places to enjoy coming up. Bluebird Music Festival Watchhouse, Bruce Hornsby and The Tallest Man On Earth will headline this festival hosted at Macky Auditorium in Boulder. Starting at $49. April 18-20 Botanic Gardens concerts The Denver Botanic Gardens will host 11 shows starting in June at its York Street location, with general public tickets going on sale April 28. Cinco De Mayo Festival The long-running cultural celebration of Mexican heritage takes place at Civic Center Park over two days with food and entertainment, three stages of live music and dancing. Free. May 3-4 The soccer club, which plays its home games at Dick's Sporting Goods Park, is looking to build on last year's much-improved campaign. Starting at $28. Now-Oct. 18 Colorado Rockies Few things are better than a spring evening at Coors Field, where the Rockies will try to avoid another disastrous season, starting with the Athletics on April 4. Starting at $46 Denver Arts Festival The annual fine arts and crafts jamboree highlights local artists at the Conservatory Green in the Central Park neighborhood. Free. May 24-25 Durango Bluegrass Meltdown Durango will host the 29th edition of a music showcase featuring Danny Paisley and the Southern Grass and Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley as headliners. Starting at $65. April 11-13 Elitch Gardens Denver's iconic amusement park will be operating at least one more year, opening in April to select season pass holders. Prices vary. April-November Levitt Pavilion The Ruby Hill amphitheater will host 18 no-cost, family-friendly shows starting in May. Free. May 30-Sept. 28 Mile High 4/20 Festival Cannabis culture takes center stage at the annual 4/20 festival, featuring performances by rapper Cordae, Bone-Thugs-N-Harmony and more live at Civic Center Park. Starting at $20. April 20 Outside Festival and Summit
