Sundance Have a new home. The Sundance Institute announced today that Sundance Film The festival moves to Boulder, Colorado, which starts with the 2027 edition of the festival. After over 40 years in its current home in Park City, Utah, Sundance will finally be on its way after it became too financially difficult for many filmmakers and other participants to travel and find affordable accommodation in Bergsstaden.
Boulder knocked out two other finalistsCincinnati, Ohio and Salt Lake City, Utah, of which the latter would have seen the festival remain in Utah, with limited events in Park City itself. The 2026 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, which takes place January 22 through February 1, will be the last in Park City, Utah.
Emoldened by founder Robert Redford’s vision that Sundance would embody a “sense of place and a sense of space,” said the search committee that it chose Boulder for its mountain view, its lively art community, its proximity to a large international airport in Denver, its viable and accessibility and more. Sundance imagines the heart of the festival centered around central Boulder, including places at the University of Colorado Boulder Campus, as well as incorporating spaces around Pearl Street Mall, a pedestrian that is only open air street and shopping area.
“We are surrounded by this wonderful, breathtaking, flat Järnberget. You can only imagine going from place to place, after taking in one of the films and metabolizing it and then going to the next place that it really creates this beautiful sense of space,” said the Sundance Institute CEO Amanda Kelso to IndieWire the morning. “And from a sense of location perspective, Boulder is such a cool, eclectic city. It is a university city, it is a technical city, it is an artist city, it is a mountain city and we are so happy to really look at the welcoming community here and bring the artists and the audience which is part of the festival to Boulder 2027.”
The decision is coming Following a long and formal request for information and request for proposal process that began in April last yearWhere dozens of cities offer to be considered for the future home, and several of them were selected to give detailed suggestions on why their city was right. The other semi -finalists who were originally considered included Atlanta, Santa Fe and Louisville.
Like Park City in its previous incarnations, Boulder Small Town combines charm with lots of natural beauty (clearly something that is still great appealing to the Sundance brand) and a hot art scene. A word that comes up a lot when Sundance Brass talks about Boulder: It’s a CityAnd a young one, one that they hope will grow with the festival. (Current population: 100,000 people.)
It also means that it is viable, something that has long ceased to be true for Park City. The festival will orient themselves around central Boulder and Pearl Street Mall, which will offer access to restaurants, cafes, vintage theaters, performance art spaces, a multiplex, a university and other auditoriums. Among them is Macky Auditorium, a concert hall that can accommodate more than 2,000, Dairy Arts Center that can accommodate the 500 and Boulder Theater which can accommodate 850.
“In the heart of Boulder lies Pearl Street Mall, which is an outdoor walk, an open space where people, no cars, can walk, arenas, cafes, all these cool spaces in the middle of Boulder,” told Sundance Film Festival Director Eugene Hernandez to Indifire this morning. “So everything we thought would be a challenge or would be different for us, has created a lot of opportunities, ways to really think about how to build and design the next step Sundance Film Festival, to build the next step in the Sundance Film Festival here in Boulder.”
The festival leaned on seven focus areas when it came to choosing its new host city: ethos, event ability, transport, hospitality, inclusion and accessibility, financial sustainability and host partner support.
These focus areas combined all into an overall goal, to choose a new host city where the festival could build a society that consists of both the audience and the artists who show their work, and ideally one that can further expand the range of Sundance “Etos” and withdraw new (and younger) participants. As a college city with a thriving art scene, Boulder fits the bill. (A nice touch: The film program at Cu Boulder, which experimental and productive filmmaker Stan Brakhage helped shape.)
The working group that looked at the potential cities had to ask some hard and quick questions with real numbers behind them. Like, does the city have at least one performance hall with a capacity of at least 1,300 that can show movies? Are there at least six screening spaces near each other? How about travel? Is there an international airport with direct flights to big cities like LA and New York within three hours after the city? And lodging! Do you have accommodation for up to 30,000 people? How about conflicts? Does the city have any existing events that would affect Sundance?
Kelso said that Boulder has already negotiated with local hotels in the area to secure affordable prices over the next ten years. She also emphasized that the centralized, international hub of Denver International Airport will make it particularly attractive to filmmakers who come in from abroad. The festival is also excited about the idea of joining the University of Colorado Film Department. They were looking for society and they seem to have chosen a place with a easily built -in.
“We are really pleased with the idea of from an audience development perspective that we can spend more time with younger audiences, and you can only imagine what types of programming we may be able to do in 2027 that can be specifically satisfy that audience,” added Kelso.
Sundance started its relocation search in April 2024, with over 100 cities that submitted to be regarded as its new host. The group that was assigned to identify a new home, known as the Sundance Film Festival Location Task Force and consisted of both Sundance employees and board members, reduced the list to 67 cities that met their original criteria and left an RFI. From that group, another 13 cities were invited to participate in the RFP scene, and it again became the six semi-finalists.
It was clear that Sundance needed to leave Park City when some of its long -term arenas began to disappear. Indieview previously reported that Two muliteplex that hosted Sundance shows had declared bankruptcyLeaves Sundance without any important alternatives. In addition, the Redstone arena decreased from 300 seats to 80 seats, which made it a tricky place to host a premiere. Sundance would often spend thousands of converting places like the library that are not traditional cinemas to cinemas, which removed dollars that the non -profit institute could have used to support its independent artists. So when looking for a new home, it was the key to logistics to have places that were finished cinemas.
FestivalinSides also emphasizes that its decision was not an economic decision, with all three hosts that offer generous financial incentives that include a mixture of public funding and a certain announcement private financing that is not necessarily taken up for most reporting.
Major Sundance Partners and sponsors was notified of the working group’s decision early on Thursday at the same time as press. Boulder later this afternoon will also host a press conference for local media about the festival’s future.
Both Colorado -Governor Jared police and visit Boulder CEO Charlene Hoffman celebrated the news on Thursday and will attend a press conference with Sundance officials in Boulder later this afternoon.
“Colorado is proud to welcome the Sundance Film Festival to its new home in Boulder from 2027,” said Governor police in a statement. “Here in our state we celebrate the art and film industry as an important economic driving force, job creator and important contributors to our thriving culture. Now, with the addition of the iconic Sundance film festival, we can expect even more jobs, a huge advantage for our small businesses including shops and restaurants. Thanks to the Sundance Institute, Visits and all partners as the City of Boy Boulder, Boles, Belerbs of Come, Onsal, Evil and the End in the Bipartisan Legislators and Leadership that have worked tirelessly to make this possible.
“We are deeply honored that Boulder has been selected to host the Sundance Film Festival from 2027,” said Hoffman, visit Boulder CEO. “Creativity, innovation, and expression are at the heart of what makes boulder special, and we’re ready to welcome storytellers and cinema lovers from around the world. Our walkable downtown, iconic venues, and beautiful country scape for the bass Flourish in Its Next Chapter. It’s Been A Remarkable Experience Getting to Share Our Vibrant Community with the Sundance Institute and We Eagerly Await the Festival’s debut in beautiful boulders, Colorado with excitement and gratitude. “
