Sundance has a new home. The Sundance Institute announced today that the Sundance Film Festival will relocate to Boulder, Colorado beginning with the 2027 edition of the festival. After over 40 years in its current home of Park City, Utah, Sundance will finally be on the move after it became too financially cumbersome for many filmmakers and other attendees to travel and find affordable lodging in the mountain town.
Boulder beat out two other finalists, Cincinnati, Ohio and Salt Lake City, Utah, the latter of which would have seen the festival remain in Utah, with limited events in Park City itself continuing. The 2026 edition of the Sundance Film Festival, which takes place January 22 through February 1, will be its last in Park City, Utah.
Emboldened by founder Robert Redford’s vision that Sundance should embody a “sense of place and a sense of space,” the search committee said it selected Boulder for its mountain views, its vibrant arts community, its proximity to a major international airport in Denver, its walkability and accessibility, and more. Sundance envisions the heart of the festival centered around downtown Boulder, including spots on the University of Colorado Boulder campus, as well as incorporating spaces around the Pearl Street Mall, a pedestrian-only open air street and shopping area.
“We are surrounded by this gorgeous, breathtaking, Flat Iron Mountain Range. You can just imagine walking from venue to venue, after taking in one of the films and metabolizing it and then going to the next venue that it really creates this beautiful sense of space,” Sundance Institute CEO Amanda Kelso told IndieWire the morning of the announcement. “And from a sense of place perspective, Boulder is such a cool, eclectic town. It is a college town, it’s a tech town, it’s an artist town, it’s a mountain town, and we are so excited to really look at the welcoming community here and bring the artists and audiences that are part of the festival to Boulder in 2027.”
The decision comes after a lengthy and formal Request for Information and Request for Proposal process that began last April, in which dozens of cities bid to be considered for the future home, and several of those were selected to give detailed proposals about why their city was right. The other semi-finalists that were initially considered included Atlanta, Santa Fe, and Louisville.
Much like Park City in its earlier incarnations, Boulder combines small-town charm with plenty of natural beauty (clearly, something still of major appeal to the Sundance brand) and a hot arts scene. One word that comes up a lot when Sundance brass talks about Boulder: it’s a town, and a young one, one that they hope will grow with the festival. (Current population: 100,000 people.)
That also means it’s walkable, something that has long ceased to be true of Park City. The festival will orient itself around downtown Boulder and the pedestrian-only Pearl Street Mall, which will offer access to restaurants, cafes, vintage theaters, performance arts spaces, a multiplex, a university, and other auditoriums. Among them are the Macky Auditorium, a concert hall that seats more than 2,000, the Dairy Arts Center that seats 500, and the Boulder Theater that seats 850.
“At the heart of Boulder is the Pearl Street Mall, which is an outdoor promenade, an open space where people, no cars, can walk, venues, cafes, all these cool spaces right at the heart of Boulder,” Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez told IndieWire this morning. “So anything that that we thought would be a challenge or would be different for us, has created a lot of opportunity, ways to really think about how to to build and design the next stage the Sundance Film Festival, to build the next stage of 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 capability, transportation, hospitality, inclusion and accessibility, financial sustainability, and host partner support.
Those focus areas all combined to one overarching aim, to choose a new host city where the festival could build a community comprised of both the audience and the artists showing their work, and ideally one that could further expand the reach of the Sundance “ethos” and pull in newer (and younger) attendees. As a college town with a thriving arts scene, Boulder fit the bill. (One nice touch: the film program at CU Boulder, which experimental and prolific filmmaker Stan Brakhage helped shape.)
The task force looking at the potential cities had to ask some hard and fast 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 screen films? Are there are at least six screening spaces in close proximity to each other? What about travel? Is there an international airport with direct flights to big cities like LA and New York within three hours of the city? And lodging! Do you have lodging accommodations for up to 30K people? What about conflicts? Does the city have any pre-existing events that would impact Sundance?
Kelso said that Boulder has already negotiated with local hotels in the area to secure affordable rates for the next 10 years. She stressed too that the centralized, international hub of the Denver International Airport will make it especially attractive to filmmakers coming in from overseas. The festival is also excited about the idea of connecting with the University of Colorado film department. They were looking for community, and they seem to have picked a place with one readily built-in.
“We’re really excited about the idea of from an audience development perspective that we can spend more time with younger audiences, and you can only imagine the types of programming that we might be able to do in 2027 that might be specifically catered to that audience,” Kelso added.
Sundance started its relocation search in April 2024, with over 100 cities submitting to be considered as its new host. The group assigned to identify a new home, known as the Sundance Film Festival Location Task Force and was made up of both Sundance staff members and board members, narrowed that list down to 67 cities that met its initial criteria and submitted an RFI. From that group, 13 more cities were invited to participate in the RFP stage, and that was again whittled down to the six semi-finalists.
It was clear Sundance needed to leave Park City when some of its long-term venues started disappearing. IndieWire previously reported that two mulitplexes that hosted Sundance screenings had declared bankruptcy, leaving Sundance without some key options. What’s more, the Redstone venue decreased from 300 seats to 80 seats, making it a tricky venue to host a premiere. Sundance would frequently spend thousands converting venues like The Library that are not traditional cinemas into movie theater venues, which took away dollars the non-profit institute could’ve used to support its independent artists. So in searching for a new home, having venues that were ready-made movie theaters was key for logistics.
Festival insiders also stress that its decision was not a financial one nor a political one, with all three hosts offering generous financial incentives that include a mix of public funding and some unannounced private funding that isn’t necessarily factored into most reporting.
Major Sundance partners and sponsors were all notified of the task force’s decision early on Thursday the same time as press. Boulder later this afternoon will also host a press conference for local media about the future of the festival.
Both Colorado Governor Jared Polis and Visit Boulder CEO Charlene Hoffman celebrated the news on Thursday and will participate in a press conference with Sundance officials in Boulder later this afternoon.
“Colorado is thrilled to welcome the Sundance Film Festival to its new home in Boulder starting in 2027,” Governor Polis said in a statement. “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.”
“We are deeply honored that Boulder has been selected to host the Sundance Film Festival starting in 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 landscape at the base of the Rocky Mountains sets the stage for the Sundance Film Festival to 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 Boulder, Colorado with excitement and gratitude.”
