Hello, Erratic! After months of speculation, anxiety and wondersThe Sundance Film The festival has today announced its new host city, from 2027. After another year in Park City, Utah, the festival will decrease further east, Pick up efforts for boulder, colorado. So, what will it look like?
When the festival tied about its possible new homes, ultimately drilling on three finalists, Indieview excavated the pros and cons of each city (including Salt Lake City, Utah and Cincinnati, Ohio). The result? We have a pretty good grip on what the 2027 edition of the festival will look like in its brand new home.
One thing that may have separated the boulder from the crowd? Its small-town feeling (something that has been missing from Park City in recent years), combined with a lively art scene, a young society (including lots of students from the University of Colorado Boulder), and the type of natural beauty that has proven inseparable from the overall Sundance brand.
All this and space to grow.
It is also something that Sundance has long ceased to be: actually viable. In Boulder, Sundance will orient themselves around the center and Pedestriet Pearl Street (a pedestrian with four blocks ranging from 11th to 15th street), which will offer access to restaurants, cafes, vintage theaters, performance art spaces, a multiplex, university facilities and other auditors.
A big fan of Pearl Street already? The Sundance Institute CEO Amanda Kelso, who was proud of the central place and talked up in an interview with Indieview this morning, live from Boulder. “One of the things I really love is Pearl Street, which is a pedestrian,” she said. “The Last Time I was here, there was some walking down the street dressed like a pirate. It wasn’t halloween! It’s got this fun, eclectic vibe to it. I love my cafes, and there 52 Coffee shops. A Place Where You Can Go Get a Late Night Slice of Pizza, But There’s Also Some Fun, Fancy Michelin Restaurants as well. “
Just off Pearl Street? The century, 850-seat Boulder Theater. One and a half miles away is the 16-screen Cinemark Century Boulder, which offers four times as many screens as Park City’s annual place for the site, which in itself is about the same distance from Park City’s Main Street Corridor.
Other Boulder arenas include the beloved and beautiful Macky Auditorium, a concert hall that has room for more than 2,000 and can become the city’s version of Eccles for large tickets. In an interview with IndieWire this morning, the Sundance Film Festival Director and head of the public programming Eugene Hernandez was particularly proud of the theaters offered.
“For me, it’s the cinemas,” Hernandez said. “The Macky, this beautiful auditorium, an iconic building, I can’t wait to show movies there and have it as a main place for our festival. So many of the cool art spaces that we have been able to explore here in Boulder have been really exciting for us. The Boulder Theater, which is a fantastic music place, is also a fantastic film.
Hernandez also talked a lot about the Dairy Arts Center, a 20-minute walk from Pearl Street (which hosts many of Boulders Hotel) which has room for 500. There are also various screening spaces at Cu Boulder, which also plays home for their own robust film program and fills that need for young blood at the festival.
For anyone who lacks Utah’s natural beauty, Colorado should scrape a pretty nice itching. EBS Burnough, the Sundance Institute Chairman of the Board, joined Hernandez and Kelso for tomorrow’s interview. When we talked, the trio could look just outside the hotel’s windows to see the spread of the festival’s new home.
“I personally may not always spend so much time really in Bergen. And so for me it’s nature, I’m looking out the window right now! “, Burnough said.” It is this vast, this great sky and these beautiful mountains. That kind of energy feeds the soul. Being here, even right now, I feel fed. And I think it’s a really exciting thing, especially to be a person who lives mainly in a city, it’s nourishing. “
From a more practical perspective, Boulder should offer some ease for time- and cash-coated Sundance participants. The city offers part of both luxury and economy hotels, including Limelight Boulder Hotel, which opens in August, with 252 rooms and 26,000 feet of event space-for-a first-downtown-boulder conference center that may host festival panels. Moxy Boulder, which is close to Macky Auditorium, also opened in 2024. Downtown St. Julien Hotel & Spa provides a luxury option.
Boulder is about a 45-minute drive from Denver International Airport, the third largest international airport in the United States. It is on par with the current driving from Salt Lake City Airport to Park City. Denver Airport Services Direct flights from Los Angeles and New York and are a hub for international flights coming in and out of the United States.
At the moment, however, the trio is mostly happy to get people to see themselves. “We’ll see you 2027 at the Sundance Film Festival. 2027 in Boulder,” Burnough said. “It is so much more exciting to be excited about things and it is also so much more exciting to actually show up and take in something new and be committed to it. Isn’t it good to be surprised sometimes?”
You can read more about the other two finalists who Be in the mix to play home to Sundance here. 2026 Sundance Film Festival, The last edition to take place in Park City, UtahWill be developed January 22 – February 1, 2026.
Further reporting by Ryan Lattanzio and Brian Welk.
