Sundance announced Thursday its annual film festival will move to Boulder, Colorado, starting in January 2027.
Officials with the nonprofit have cited the high cost of doing business in Park City as a reason to move. In recent years, the Sundance Institute has laid off staff, raised ticket prices and cut venues for its annual event.
The institute’s financial records show it took a major revenue hit in 2021 that it attributes to the COVID-19 pandemic. Sundance operated online as a virtual festival for two years because of the pandemic, which has also hurt the film industry in general.
According to figures from the Salt Lake City Mayor’s Office, Utah was offering Sundance more than $12 million in cash and in-kind contributions annually for the festival to remain in the state.
Utah also committed $10 million in private donations if Sundance signed a new contract with the state.
It’s unclear what private donations are attached to Boulder’s bid.
Colorado lawmakers have approved a bill that would offer Sundance $34 million in tax credits over 10 years. The bill awaiting Gov. Jared Polis’ signature is structured in a way that Sundance will receive $13 million in the first three years after relocating to the state.
Back in Utah, Park City Chamber President and CEO Jennifer Wesselhoff said she was proud of the state’s bid package.
“But where I think it was different is our makeup of our financial package was a lot of different pieces, and Sundance would have to apply for those through a grant process,” she said on KPCW’s “Local News Hour” Friday. “Whereas I believe that the Colorado package was a more guaranteed fund.”
Utah was also pitching a new format for the festival, with more screenings and events in Salt Lake City.
Details from the bid show that only four theaters (The Ray, Park City Library, Eccles Center and The Egyptian Theatre) in Park City would be used under the new footprint, along with events on Main Street. About 25 different venues of varying sizes were proposed to be used in Salt Lake City, including Abravanel Hall and the Eccles Theater.
To close the 30-mile gap, Utah’s bid team proposed a shuttle between Park City and Salt Lake City for 18 hours a day, running every 30 minutes.
In announcing its move to Boulder, Sundance leaders praised the city’s intimacy and walkability, including the pedestrian-only Pearl Street Mall.
KPCW was told Utah’s conservative politics didn’t play a role in pushing Sundance to leave.
But Wesselhoff said festival officials brought up the new Utah law banning the use of Pride flags on government property in recent discussions before their final decision. Utah’s bid team felt the film festival’s counter-culture was a strength.
“Sundance’s brand not only interlinks so tightly with Park City, but also as being a disruptor and bringing new and diverse ideas and concepts to Utah,” she said. “We feel, and still feel, that they made such a difference on our social and cultural values within our state, and we pushed them on that. We challenged them to continue to think that way.”
She expressed that the film festival might not have as much weight in a college town in the more liberal state of Colorado.
“Sharing those ideas in Boulder and in Colorado is maybe more of an echo chamber and maybe less impactful than it is and has been over the last 40 years in Park City and in Utah,” Wesselhoff said.
Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Thursday he recommends removing the $3.5 million allocation to Sundance that state lawmakers approved earlier this year. The governor said he’d like to reinvest the funds to “create a new festival and a world-class film economy” in Utah.
Park City will host the Sundance Film Festival for the last time next year. The 2026 festival runs Jan. 22 to Feb. 1 with events in Park City and Salt Lake City.
