PARK CITY — The Sundance Film Festival will be packing up and heading east to Colorado after over 40 years in Utah.

The Sundance Institute announced Thursday that it will relocate the massive film festival to Boulder, Colorado, splitting away from the state it originated in.

"Boulder is an art town, tech town, mountain town, and college town," Sundance Institute CEO Amanda Kelso said in a prepared statement. "It is a place where the Festival can build and flourish. ... We can't imagine a better fit than Boulder."

Rumors swirled in the lead-up to this announcement, with Park City Mayor Nann Worel, in the State of Park City address on Tuesday, saying the recent bill passed to ban political flags in government buildings, including the gay pride flag, and anti-Sundance comments by elected officials "have not been helpful in our bid to keep the festival here."

Sen. Daniel McCay, R-Riverton, for example, posted on X: "Sundance promotes porn. Sundance promotes alternative lifestyles. Sundance promotes anti-lds themes. Sundance does not fit in Utah anymore."

Deadline reported a "Sundance insider" as saying "Utah is Utah, but this goes to the heart of the community Sundance has worked years and years to develop."

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox responded last week, "If that person does care about making a difference on these issues, I don't know why leaving makes that better."

Related:

Utah leaders 'disappointed' by Sundance's exit, consider new festival

State and local leaders say they are disappointed in Sundance's upcoming departure, but they're already exploring what's next, which may include a rival film festival.

Sundance officials say "politics was not a part" of its final decision. Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute Board chair, said it was instead based on "a detailed evaluation of the key components essential to creating our festival." Those criteria are ethos, event capability, transportation and hospitality, inclusion and accessibility, financial sustainability and host partner support.

Inside Utah's bid

The annual event debuted as the Utah/United States Film Festival, which was first held in Salt Lake City in 1978. It eventually moved to Park City in 1981 and morphed into the Sundance Film Festival after the Sundance Institute took over.

However, its future in Utah became uncertain as the institute's existing contract with Park City expires in 2026, which will now be the last year the festival is held in Utah, from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1.

Shortly after taking over, Sundance Institute CEO Amanda Kelso said in April 2024 that the organization would undergo a selection process for a host city of the festival, starting in 2027. Six cities were chosen in June 2024, but Atlanta; Louisville, Kentucky; and Santa Fe, New Mexico, were cut from consideration in September, narrowing the field to Cincinnati, Boulder and Utah.

Utah was initially framed as the incumbent to beat. Its bid would have split the global event between Park City and Salt Lake City. The two cities, along with state, county and private entities, banded together as part of a committee to retain the event.

They were dejected when they were informed Thursday morning that they had lost, but they don't believe it was from a lack of effort. The team believed it had pieced together a "top-tier" offer to retain the global event, which included millions in new public funds, millions more in private funds and over two dozen potential venues.

KSL.com obtained an overview of the state's offer, which would have nearly doubled the annual in-kind and cash public funding over the next 10 years.

In-kind funding would have jumped from $3.7 million to $6.6 million annually, while proposed cash amounts would have risen from $2.7 million to $5.5 million every year. The proposed increase would have been covered by a mix of public sources, including state funding and various local tax revenues split between Salt Lake and Summit counties.

Most of the proposed money would have come from private sources, especially through a proposed shakeup in corporate sponsorships to improve revenue there. This was estimated to net $30.2 million annually over the next decade, or over $230 million over that time.

The event could have been scattered all over Salt Lake City and Park City, as well. Thirty venues of varying sizes were proposed, 25 of which were in Utah's capital city.

Most of these were the usual suspects, like the Egyptian Theatre in Park City and the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center in downtown Salt Lake City. However, there were several other public venues offered up, including Abravanel Hall, the Utah Museum of Fine Arts and Clark Planetarium.

Committee members scouted every potential venue over the past year, finding support from private venues willing to open their space up for events. The Depot, Keys on Main and the State Room were among other potential Sundance venues.

Visit Salt Lake also pitched a free "Main to Main" shuttle service that would run every 30 minutes, connecting eventgoers from Main Street in Salt Lake City to Main Street in Park City.

However, it was not enough to convince the Sundance Film Festival to stay.

An offer Sundance couldn't refuse

Colorado passed a film festival tax incentive bill this year, securing $34 million in refundable tax credits over a decade if Sundance began the relocation process by Jan. 1, 2026. The University of Colorado Boulder also played a big role in the bid, with mentorship opportunities for students and an accomplished film faculty, according to Colorado Public Radio.

"We have a real homegrown audience that's into more artistic cinema," CU professor and filmmaker Kelly Sears told Boulder Weekly. " I think there is a big population that is eager for cinema that skews toward the margins here."

The walkable Pearl Street Mall was attractive to the institute, according to the release. Festivalgoers will likely feel right at home at the historic art-deco Boulder Theater, which happens to be the spitting image of the Egyptian.

It is unclear how the move will affect the already established Boulder International Film Festival, the First Person Cinema and International Film Series, and other smaller festivals that have flourished there.

Sundance founder Robert Redford released a statement, saying, "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. What we've created is remarkably special and defining."

Related topics