THE Film Festival Sundance Will move to Boulder, Colorado, starting with the 2027 edition, a transformer change for one of the main annual events of the independent cinematographic community.
After a vote on Wednesday by the board of directors of Sundance Institute, the city was chosen during the other two finalists, Cincinnati and Salt Lake City.
“There was an overwhelming support in Boulder,” said Ebs Burnough, chairman of the board of directors of Sundance Institute on Thursday morning. “There has certainly been a solid conversation, but as a board of directors, we have gone through this process for about 18 months now, so there have been a lot of coherent conversations and an evolving conversation and an evolutionary process.”
“One of the things that is really important for us is to think of our philosophy,” said Amanda Kelso, acting director of Sundance Institute. “And our philosophy is imbued with this notion that Robert Redford had proposed in our founding principles, which is this idea of coming to a place for the Film of Sundance which has a feeling of space and a feeling of belonging.
“It's a great city,” added Kelso. “It has this wonderful atmosphere. You can go hiking or cycling nearby. But it is also a city of art, it is a technological city, it is a university city. It is therefore a really dynamic place.”
It was officially announced in April of last year the possibility of leaving The long -standing house of the Park City festival, Utah, when a contract with the city was renewing from 2027. Some 67 locations submitted requests for information, while requests for proposals were then sent to 13 potential sites, with further visits to Six cities which were then shrunk to the last three.
The move of the festival arrives at a time when the film industry as a whole undergoes uncertainty continues at all levels, from production to distribution and exhibition. The community around Sundance was deeply affected by the evolution of commercial problems.
“This is a festival that has undergone a change for five years, and this is the next step,” Eugene Hernandez, director of the Sundance Festival and Chief of Public Program, said on Thursday. “Sundance as a institute and as a festival, in his commitment to artists, his commitment to be a global discovery festival, is unchanged and unshakable. And yet at the same time, (it was) an institute and a festival that was willing to evolve. ”
Over time, boulder's places such as Macky Auditorium, the Boulder Theater and Dairy Arts Center can become as familiar to participants in Sundance as Eccles Theater, Egyptian Theater and Park City Library are for them now.
“I think it's a really important moment for us as a institute, but specifically for the festival,” said Kelso. “I think that one of the things that fascinates us so excited is to have space to be larger in the way we think of the festival. It is therefore an opportunity for us to give us space for growth. ”
Macky auditorium in Boulder, colo.
(Sundance Institute)
According to documents provided by Sundance Institute, the decision -making process included seven global intervention areas: ethics, event capacity, transport, hospitality, inclusion and accessibility, financial sustainability and support of host partners.
Among the factors considered, there was at least one performance room with a capacity of 1,300 people for the first films, at least six projection spaces with capacities ranging from 150 to 1,300, an international airport with direct flights from Los Angeles, New York, London and Paris within three hours of location, housing within 25 miles for a summit of 30,000 people and Capacity pre-exploitation, such as the Olympic Games.
Salt Lake City and Cincinnati were perceived as blue cities in the red states, while Boulder is considered a blue city in a blue state. With controversial legislative proposals that are now envisaged in Utah and Ohio which are in conflict with the vision of the inclusive world which is an intrinsic part of Sundance, the passage to Boulder apparently decreases which could have been a source of increasing tensions for the festival.
“What we looked at is how do we move?” 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 Showed up in Really Strong Ways.
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In a press release, the governor of Colorado, Jared Polis, said: “Here, in our state, we celebrate the artistic and cinematographic industry as a key economic engine, creator of jobs and important contributor to our flourishing culture. Now, with the addition of the emblematic Sundance Film Festival, we can expect even more jobs, a huge advantage for our small businesses, including stores and restaurants. ”
During more than 40 years in Utah, the Sundance Film Festival helped stimulate filmmakers, including Quentin Tarantino, Ava Duvernay, Steven Soderbergh, Ryan Coogler and countless others, while seeing the film industry through several eras of change. The festival will now try to create a new house in Boulder while it goes with industry in the uncertain future.
“As the change is inevitable, we must always evolve and grow, which has been at the heart of our survival,” said Robert Redford, president and founder of the Sundance Institute, in a press release. “This decision will guarantee that the festival is continuing its risk -taking work, supporting innovative storytellers, promoting independence and entertaining and enlightening the public. I am grateful to the BOULDER community for its support, and I can't wait to see what the future has in store for the festival there. ”
The latest Sundance Film Festival in Utah, with events in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, will take place from January 22 to February 1, 2026.
