Why Sundance picked Boulder — and why it matters
The Sundance Film Festival is leaving Utah after nearly five decades and will plant its flag in Boulder, Colorado, starting in 2027. The decision, announced March 27, 2025, closes a long chapter for Park City and Salt Lake City and opens a new one along Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall and the University of Colorado campus. A brief stop in Nederland arrives first in 2026 — a quirky interlude that nods to Colorado’s mountain-town spirit before the festival settles into its new home.
The Sundance Institute’s Board of Trustees said the move follows a months-long search that weighed venues, housing, transit, community support, and growth potential. Boulder beat out a joint Park City/Salt Lake City bid after Cincinnati exited the race earlier. Board chair Ebs Burnough called Boulder the “ideal location” to build the festival’s future, and festival director Eugene Hernandez said the event will be anchored in Boulder but designed to ripple across the Front Range, from Denver to Colorado Springs and Fort Collins.
The shift is more than a change of scenery. It redefines the winter map for the film industry, indie buyers, and the thousands of filmmakers and fans who’ve made Utah their January routine since 1978. The move also signals how film festivals are adapting: they want walkable districts, dependable transit, university partnerships, and a broader pool of spaces that can flex between premieres, panels, labs, and community events.
City leaders in Boulder didn’t hide their excitement. The plan is to cluster screenings and events around downtown theaters and the pedestrian-only Pearl Street Mall, with CU Boulder offering auditoriums and gathering places for talks and workshops. Nederland — which stepped up early when its Frozen Dead Guy Days decamped to Estes Park — will host a one-off 2026 edition that doubles as a real-world test of Colorado logistics in winter.
Utah leaders were candid about their disappointment. Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson called it “the end of an era,” arguing the current leadership had drifted from the spirit that built Sundance’s reputation. Governor Spencer Cox wished the institute well despite the setback. In Colorado, Governor Jared Polis framed the decision as a continuation of Sundance’s legacy rather than a break from it.
Why Boulder now? Several factors line up. The city’s compact downtown makes it easy to move from a morning premiere to a noon Q&A to an evening industry mixer without long shuttle commutes. Denver International Airport offers global reach, with a straightforward bus-and-rail connection to the Front Range and frequent service into Boulder. The university adds everything from auditoriums to student volunteers, plus a built-in community for daytime programming. And the arts scene — from the historic Boulder Theater to smaller venues — gives Sundance a platform that can scale without losing intimacy.
There’s also the weather and altitude calculus. January storms are still part of the story in Boulder, but day-to-day conditions tend to be milder than high-alpine resort towns. That matters for traffic, flight reliability, and getting people to the theater on time. For attendees who’ve wrestled with snowpacked canyon roads and limited parking, that’s not a small thing.
For Park City, the move leaves a hole — culturally and economically. During Sundance, restaurants extend hours, boutiques flip into hospitality suites, and hotels run at full tilt. Even with hybrid programming in recent years, the in-person festival has been a reliable jolt in a shoulder period of the ski season. Local businesses now face a January without the same crush of filmgoers, publicists, and buyers. Some will try to build new events. Others will refocus on winter sports and corporate retreats. But the seasonal rhythm won’t be the same.
Meanwhile, Colorado’s planners are already thinking through the nuts and bolts. Boulder’s city manager, Nuria Rivera-Vandermyde, put it plainly: celebrations today, work next week. Expect discussions on traffic control plans, late-night permitting, temporary screening infrastructure, and how to balance festival demand with everyday life on Pearl Street. CU Boulder will likely handle daytime talks, labs, and student-focused programs, leaving evenings for premieres and marquee screenings around downtown.
Think of the Front Range as a wider stage. Denver’s exhibition infrastructure can absorb industry events, press junkets, and special presentations when needed, and cities like Longmont and Fort Collins could host satellite screenings or community nights. Hernandez’s promise to spread the festival’s “spirit” across Colorado isn’t just poetry — it’s the practical reality of moving a festival known for pop-up venues and a citywide footprint.
There are still open questions. Will ticketing windows, volunteer recruitment, and accreditation timelines change? How will Boulder manage housing for visiting crews, publicists, and filmmakers who typically book months ahead? Will the institute add more daytime screenings to ease evening bottlenecks? Organizers say more details are coming over the next year, with the 2026 Nederland pop-up serving as a rehearsal for crowd flow, transport, and tech.
What won’t change is the mission. Sundance remains the institute’s largest artist program and a hard launchpad for debut features, documentaries, and breakthrough shorts. The virtual components born during the pandemic aren’t going away either. Expect a hybrid model that keeps the in-person buzz while letting global audiences access premieres and Q&As online. That broader reach has been key for filmmakers who can’t afford a week on the ground — and for distributors scouting talent beyond the big-ticket titles.
Industry buyers will adjust. TV executives and streamers who’ve packed Main Street condos in Park City will now pivot to Pearl Street suites and CU auditoriums. The deals will still get done — just at a different altitude and with a different skyline. If anything, the Front Range may add capacity for ancillary events: technology showcases, music performances, and crossovers with gaming or immersive media. Boulder’s startup ecosystem and university labs present natural tie-ins for panels on AI, virtual production, and sustainability in film.
Environmental commitments will get scrutiny too. Moving thousands of attendees has a carbon cost, and Sundance has been under pressure to show progress on waste, transport, and energy. The Denver-Boulder corridor’s transit network gives organizers a chance to push bus-first movement between venues, with frequent service on regional lines and walkable cores that reduce car dependency. Expect visible recycling and composting operations, more e-shuttles, and incentives for badge holders who skip rideshares for transit.
Then there’s the community balance. Boulder residents love their downtown, and a major festival brings noise, late nights, and street closures. The city will need firm rules on pop-up branding, outdoor activations, and amplified sound. At the same time, locals will expect access: discounted screenings, free community days, school partnerships, and year-round programs that don’t vanish when the red carpets roll up. Sundance, for its part, has long tied the festival to artist labs and education — the institute will be pressed to embed that in Colorado, not just parachute in for ten days each winter.
The timeline is set. The 2025 edition in Park City will be a farewell. In 2026, Nederland gets a one-year cameo that doubles as a logistics stress test. In 2027, Boulder becomes the festival’s base for at least a decade, if local and state partners deliver on permits, venues, and support. Behind the scenes, that means contracts with theaters, hotel blocks that protect price stability, and a volunteer corps big enough to staff everything from box offices to rush lines.
For filmmakers, the practical advice is simple. Start your travel math early: fly into Denver, consider staying within walking distance of Pearl Street or along key bus corridors, and build buffer time into your schedule. For locals hoping to catch premieres, keep an eye on off-peak daytime screenings and community showcases at CU. And for buyers and press, think bigger than Boulder — Denver’s capacity gives the festival options for marquee events when crowd sizes spike.
Utah’s legacy won’t disappear. Robert Redford’s imprint, the mountain-town intimacy, the decades of breakthroughs — they’re part of the DNA that Sundance will carry west along I-70. But festivals evolve, and this one is betting that a university city with a walkable core, a major international airport, and an engaged arts community is the right foundation for its next chapter. The institute has promised the same core mission: original voices, fresh perspectives, and a winter gathering that still sets the tone for the film year to come.
What changes for attendees and the industry
If you’ve done Utah in January, here’s how Colorado will feel different.
- Travel and transit: Most out-of-towners will route through Denver International Airport. From there, regional buses and ride services connect to Boulder. Expect more emphasis on public transit and fewer long shuttles between remote venues.
- Venues and vibe: Downtown theaters around Pearl Street and CU auditoriums will host the bulk of premieres, panels, and labs. The footprint is flatter and more walkable than a ski town, with restaurants and bars clustered in a few blocks.
- Housing: Boulder’s hotel stock is smaller than a major city’s but spread across downtown and campus-adjacent districts. Organizers are likely to lock in blocks early and encourage nearby cities to serve overflow.
- Weather: Cold and dry with bluebird days is common. Snowstorms still happen, but commutes are generally less alpine and more highway — better for schedule reliability.
- Community programming: Expect more free screenings, campus talks, and K-12 tie-ins. The institute will lean on Colorado partners to put artists in classrooms and bring students into theaters.
Back in Utah, leaders are already gaming out Plan B for January. Park City has a strong events muscle and a global ski brand; it can backfill with sports, culinary weekends, or a new cultural series that fits the winter calendar without overwhelming locals. Salt Lake City — which ramped up its role hosting screenings in recent years — may try to keep a piece of the film audience with city-run showcases.
The message from Sundance is continuity with change: a treasured festival taking a new route to reach the same destination — discovery. The institute says the 2025 Utah edition will be a proper sendoff, the 2026 Nederland stop a bridge, and the 2027 Boulder debut the start of a long run. The spotlight now shifts to Colorado’s planners, who have 18 months to turn a vision into opening night.
