The Sundance Film Festival is moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2027

In 1978, the Sundance Film Festival (co-founded by the head of Robert Redford’s company Wildwood Enterprises, Inc) got its start in Salt Lake City, Utah. As of 1981, it moved over to Park City, Utah, and there it has remained ever since, with the festival being held in January every year (except for recently, when Covid shut it down for a couple of years). But the Park City era is about to come to an end. As of 2027, the Sundance Film Festival will be based in Boulder, Colorado.

We first heard rumblings that Sundance might move in July of 2023, when it was revealed that the festival’s Park City contract would be expiring after the 2026 show and executives were thinking of doing “a dramatic reset with a new location.” While there was a chance that the Park City contract could be renewed, multiple cities pitched themselves to be the new home of Sundance, with the list of potential new hosts including Cincinnati, Ohio; Atlanta, Georgia; Louisville, Kentucky; Santa Fe, New Mexico; Bentonville, Arkansas; and Boulder, Colorado. The list was whittled down to finalists Park City, Cincinnati, and Boulder a few months ago, and Deadline has confirmed that Boulder has come out the winner in this competition to host Sundance.

According to Deadline, “With a financially deep and culturally deep proposal, Boulder, which houses of the University of Colorado, put $34 million in tax incentives on the table over the 10-years. Directly facing the challenges and  inconvenience that have hobbled Sundance in Park City in recent years, the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau detailed in their winning pitch a plethora of venues and lodgings that aim to make Sundance much more accessible and affordable for streamer and studio bosses as well as first time filmmakers going to Sundance on their own dime.“

Acting Sundance Institute CEO Amanda Kelso said, “Part of the decision-making process was around opportunity for growth. That is also an important factor for us. Knowing that we can be in a town that has 100,000 people means that it has more venues, more spaces, and more opportunities in how we can be expansive of the festival moving forward. From a sense of space perspective, it’s this really vibrant town that’s surrounded by nature. You can imagine walking from venue to venue, metabolizing the film you just watched and communing with nature which is something Robert Redford felt so strongly about. When you think about a sense of place perspective, Boulder is a cool town, it’s an arts town. There are poets, musicians and filmmakers who live here. It’s a tech town. It’s also a college town — 38,000 students attend University of Colorado Boulder, and that creates an opportunity for us to think about audience development in a more expansive way.“

Colorado Governor Jared Polis added, “Colorado is thrilled to welcome the Sundance Film Festival to its new home in Boulder starting in 2027. 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. Thank you to the Sundance Institute and all of the partners like the City of Boulder, Visit Boulder, the Boulder Chamber of Commerce, and I also want to thank the bipartisan legislators and leadership who have worked tirelessly to make this possible.“

The very last Sundance in Park City is scheduled to take place from January 22nd through February 1st, 2026, and now it’s expected to be “a bit of a blowout.”

What do you think of the Sundance Film Festival moving from Park City, Utah to Boulder, Colorado? Let us know by leaving a comment below.

The post The Sundance Film Festival is moving to Boulder, Colorado in 2027 appeared first on JoBlo.