After a yearlong search, the Sundance Movie Pageant introduced Thursday that its new dwelling shall be Boulder, Colorado, maintaining Sundance within the mountains however shifting it out of Park Metropolis, the Utah ski city that had for many years offered the premier unbiased movie gathering its picturesque snowy backdrop.
Organizers mentioned that after 40 years within the mountains, the pageant had outgrown Park Metropolis, and lacked the required theaters or reasonably priced housing to proceed internet hosting what has turn out to be one in every of North America’s most sprawling film occasions. Sundance had narrowed down the choices to Salt Lake Metropolis (with a smaller presence in Park Metropolis), Cincinnati and Boulder.
Boulder emerged as their selection as a consequence of its shut proximity to nature, its small-town appeal and an engaged neighborhood that, organizer mentioned, gives Sundance the perfect 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, performing chief government of the Sundance Institute, mentioned 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 pageant and head of programming, spoke shortly earlier than saying the pageant’s transfer in Boulder. Native officers, who helped lure Sundance with $34 million in tax credit over 10 years, applauded the choice.
“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.) mentioned in a press release.
Reacting to the choice, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox (Rep.) mentioned Thursday that Sundance will come to remorse leaving Utah.
“As I’ve mentioned from the start, we needed Sundance to remain,” Cox mentioned in a press release. “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 modified endorsed by Sundance founder Robert Redford
A shift from Park Metropolis to Boulder means Sundance stays at altitude however offers up being situated in an costly ski city. The mile-high Colorado metropolis set within the foothills of the Rockies additionally maintains a way of surrounding nature — one thing organizers burdened as an element of their determination. Boulder’s four-block pedestrian mall on Pearl Road, with close by theaters, may additionally present an identical sense of central hub like Park Metropolis’s Major Road.
The Sundance Institute was based in 1981 by Robert Redford, who sought a location removed from Hollywood to foster unbiased voices in movie. In 1984, the institute took over the Sundance Movie Pageant, however the nonprofit’s mission of serving to younger filmmakers develop by way of labs and workshops — Redford’s actual ardour — continued year-round away from the pageant.
The 88-year-old Redford, who attended the College of Colorado in Boulder in his youth, gave the transfer 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 mentioned in a press release. “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 selected its new dwelling
The pageant made “ethos and equity values” one in every of its standards, prompting many to marvel how a lot native politics would affect the selection by Sundance, which emphasizes inclusivity. Gov. Cox is at present weighing a invoice that will ban the flying of sure flags at colleges and authorities buildings, together with the LGBTQ satisfaction flag.
Organizers mentioned 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 mentioned 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 present contract expiration date looming, the hunt for a brand new host metropolis started in earnest in April 2024. The preliminary group of six contenders additionally included Atlanta, Louisville, Kentucky and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
What Sundance has meant for Park Metropolis, and the movie world
Earlier than packing up, Sundance can have one final version in Park Metropolis in January 2026.
“The Sundance Film Festival will be the Sundance Film Festival wherever we go. What’s consistent is our mission,” mentioned Hernandez. “This is a festival of global discovery. What’s exciting about Boulder is this is a place we can build.”
Through the years, Sundance in Park Metropolis swelled right into a premier market for American movie, drawing studio executives and parka-wearing celebrities into the Wasatch mountains each January. It helped launch numerous filmmakers through the years, from Steven Soderbergh (“Sex, Lies and Videotape”) to Ryan Coogler (“Fruitvale Station”). Sundance scored its first greatest image winner with “CODA” in 2022.
Sundance meant large enterprise for Utah and Park Metropolis. In 2024, the pageant had some 72,840 in-person attendees, 24,200 of whom have been coming from out of state. In line with the pageant’s financial influence report, out-of-state guests spent an estimated $106.4 million in Utah throughout the pageant. Its complete financial influence was estimated to be $132 million, with 1,730 jobs for Utah residents and $69.7 million in Utah wages.
However the pageant had additionally sparred with native ski resorts — Park Metropolis’s different main cash maker — as festivalgoers stuffed the accommodations and left the slopes just about empty for 2 weeks throughout peak ski season. The pageant was a boon to some native companies, however a hindrance to others. For guests flying into the 10-day pageant, ballooning rental prices more and more factored into attending.
All three prime contenders budgeted thousands and thousands to lure the profitable pageant to their metropolis. Cincinnati put aside $2.5 million for Sundance and one other $2.5 million to return if it was chosen. Salt Lake Metropolis provided Sundance $3.5 million to remain in Utah.
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Related Press Author Hannah Schoenbaum and Movie Author Lindsey Bahr contributed to this report. Schoenbaum reported from Salt Lake Metropolis.
