In April, festival organizers said they were exploring new host locations. Several states have announced plans to bid for the event, which has been held in Park City for the past 40 years.
In May, Utah’s Sundance Film Festival Host Committee, which is comprised of state and local leaders, submitted its bid to keep the festival in state.
“We believe that continuing in Utah will best assure the Sundance Film Festival’s continued growth and long-term success,” Utah Film Commission Director Virginia Pearce said in the proposal.
On Thursday, Boulder, Colorado announced its desire to host the festival and touted a $1.5 million dollar incentive from the Colorado Economic Development Commission as part of their proposal.
San Francisco and Santa Fe, New Mexico are two other western cities that announced intentions to submit bids. Both have connections with Sundance as San Francisco is home to the Redford Center and Santa Fe hosted the Sundance Institute’s Native Lab for indigenous storytellers in May.
Georgia, known for its movie and TV incentives, has also thrown their hat in the ring with two cities in the state vying to host. Both Atlanta and Savannah have expressed interest in hosting the film festival.
Cold winter locations are also on the shortlist with Buffalo, New York and Minneapolis expressing their desire to bring Sundance to their communities.
Chicago is also rumored to be eyeing its potential as a full time host as the city prepares for the three-day mini-event, Sundance Film Festival x Chicago, which takes place next week.
KPCW reached out to the Sundance Institute for an update on the location selection process but did not hear back from them at the time of this report.
Sundance is expected to decide on a festival location for 2027 and beyond by the end of this year or early 2025.
Park City will continue to host the 2025 and 2026 Sundance Film Festivals.
