The Sundance Film Festival has had a slowly decreasing lineup since the COVID-19 pandemic. This year the festival will host 82 feature films. That’s compared to 99 feature films in 2023 and 118 feature films in 2020.
Competition categories are slightly lighter. Each category traditionally had 16 works. When COVID-19 hit, each category received fewer films. Then in 2023, 12 films were selected per category and this year, 10 films in each. Sundance also created an online portion of the festival to continue through unprecedented times during the pandemic.
Sundance Film Festival Director Eugene Hernandez said part of the reason for the changes is to save money. But he said it's about more than the bottom line. Hernandez said featuring fewer films will give the selections a greater opportunity to be viewed.
“It's been a tough year with strikes and challenges in the distribution marketplace," Hernandez said. "So we want to really get behind each and every film we invite to this festival and give them the best shot at reaching audiences.”
After the pandemic, the festival also dropped a few venues including the MARC and Temple Har Shalom. This year the two largest venues, the Eccles and Prospector theaters, will see shorter schedules.
"What we're doing in refining slightly the footprint is we're really hoping to create a more intimate experience in that second half," he said. "So speaking to Park City, we have a slightly tighter footprint in Park City during the second half."
Hernandez said while this does save costs, it is also meant to be more sustainable and create a more concentrated experience for audiences and filmmakers.
"We're programming a lot more retrospective screenings all through the festival and into the second half to give audiences a chance to engage more intimately with artists," he said.
The Filmmaker Lodge will remain open the entire festival for the same reason.
"Filmmakers dream of that moment, of premiering their film at the Eccles or the Ray or at the library or all these iconic spaces," he said. "We find the right footprint that makes sense for the year and gives us the best chance of giving each of these films the best possible launch we can."
Sundance leaders told the Park City Council last year the nonprofit needs time to examine all options as part of a new strategic plan, as it looks to financially recover after the pandemic.
"We're taking it one year at a time," he said. "The world is expensive. But that's why we try to be responsible and we try to be accountable to ourselves and to the economy so that we can present a festival that continues to abide by and follow and celebrate film and communal gathering in front of big screens as something we cherish."
Sundance has been in Park City since 1981 and Hernandez said he hopes that can continue.
"Park City is and has been Sundance's home for so many years now for decades," he said. "And it's such an important part of Sundance, its history, its legacy, its people come here to the festival... It's a magical place."
The Sundance Film Festival’s contract with Park City ends in 2026 and the festival has until Oct. 1, 2024, to determine if it will stay or find a new home.
Find complete details on the 2024 Sundance Film Festival here.
