Citing the recent surge of the Omicron COVID-19 variant, Sundance Film Festival organizers announced Wednesday that all in-person Utah events for the 2022 festival have been canceled and moved to an online format. The 2021 festival was also moved online due to COVID-19 concerns.
The announcement said: “While it is a deep loss to not have the in-person experience in Utah, we do not believe it is safe nor feasible to gather thousands of artists, audiences, employees, volunteers, and partners from around the world, for an eleven-day festival while overwhelmed communities are already struggling to provide essential services.”
The online festival will begin as planned on January 20th and run until the 30th.
Utah has experienced a dramatic spike in new COVID-19 cases over the past week, and recorded an all-time high of over 7,200 cases on Wednesday.
Sundance said while the decision was not an easy one to make, it added: ”with case numbers forecasted to peak in our host community the week of the festival, we cannot knowingly put our staff and community at risk.”
The announcement added that hosting an in-person festival in Summit County would be “irresponsible.”
Sundance said the organization will be in contact with everyone who has already purchased festival passes or packages about their future options. Individual tickets for online screenings are scheduled to go on sale at 10am January 13th.
The festival still plans to have in-person screenings at its seven worldwide satellite locations from January 28th-30th.
