After two years of going online-only because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Sundance Film Festival is once again planning to screen movies in person in Utah in 2023.
The Sundance Institute, Robert Redford’s arts nonprofit that stages the festival each year, announced Tuesday it plans to go on as a hybrid festival — with in-person screenings and events in Park City and Salt Lake City, and streaming movies online — from January 19 to 29, 2023.
“We can’t wait to return to our home in Park City and present exciting new work from around the world live and in person,” Tabitha Jackson, the festival’s director, said in a statement. “We also have two years of digital exhibition and participation under our collective belt, and are returning to the excitement and immediacy of live events while retaining a powerful online offering.”
The festival’s program lineup will be bigger than it has been during the two online-only years. In 2021, the festival screened 73 feature-length titles, while this year’s slate held 84 titles. In pre-pandemic years, Sundance has usually screened around 120 feature-length films.
Even as a virtual festival, Sundance recorded some of its biggest successes ever these past two years. In March, for the first time ever, a movie that premiered at the festival — the deaf family comedy-drama “CODA” — won the Academy Award for Best Picture. Another award winner from Sundance ‘21 was Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson’s music documentary “Summer of Soul (…Or When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised),” which won the Oscar in the documentary feature category.
Details on pass and package information, for both in-person and online viewing, will be announced closer to the festival dates — and will be accompanied with updated health and safety guidance, including rules for vaccination status.
Festival programmers are also taking submissions for the 2023 festival, gathered via the app FilmFreeway.
The deadline for feature film submissions are August 12 (early), September 5 (official) and September 26 (late). Short film deadlines are August 1 (early), August 19 (official) and September 5 (late). The deadline for submitting works for the New Frontier program begins August 5 (early), August 22 (official) and September 9 (late). Submissions for episodic content are August 8 (early), August 26 (official) and September 12 (late).
Go to sundance.org for details.
