Six cities have made it to the final round to be selected as the home of the Sundance Film Festival in 2027 and beyond — and there’s a chance the event will stay in Utah.
The Sundance Institute, the nonprofit that operates the annual showcase for independent films, announced Friday that a combined bid from Park City and Salt Lake City — the cities the festival has called home since it began in 1978 — was one of the six finalists.
The other five cities selected for the final round are:
Atlanta.
Boulder, Colorado.
Cincinnati.
Louisville, Kentucky.
Santa Fe, New Mexico.
“Getting to six finalists was a difficult decision,” Eugene Hernandez, the festival director and director of public programming, said in a statement. “Each of these cities has a vibrant creative ecosystem, either expanding or established, and has enabled creativity to flourish in their cities through their support of the arts.”
Members of the Sundance Institute’s selection committee will visit each of the finalist cities in the coming weeks, the institute said in a news release Friday.
Among the members of that selection committee is filmmaker and institute board member Amy Redford, the daughter of the institute’s founder, actor-filmmaker-activist Robert Redford.
“The Institute will continue to focus on completing a fair and comprehensive review of the six possible partners and will not be providing comments while the review process is taking place,” the news release said. “Sundance Institute will provide more information once the location for the 2027 Festival has been selected.” An announcement is expected late this year or early next year.
The bid from the Utah Host Committee, a coalition working to keep the festival in the state, carries the theme “Two Cities. One Experience.”
In past years, the contract between Park City and the institute required 70% of all festival screenings to take place in Park City; Salt Lake City venues have made up most of the rest. According to a news release issued Friday by the Utah Film Commission, “while the Festival has always held screenings and events outside Park City, the committee’s plan expands that experience.”
Utah’s bid, the commission said, also “offers new ways to secure and expand upon” the approximately $4 million in financial assistance that government entities now give the festival, as well as the $2 million in cash and in-kind support from local, corporate, foundation and individual donors.
Other cities bidding have offered financial incentives in their bids. Atlanta reportedly pledged $2 million in financial incentives from the city and its partners. Boulder’s bid included $1.5 million in incentive money from the state of Colorado.
The Sundance Film Festival’s predecessor, the Utah/US Film Festival, launched in Salt Lake City in 1978. In 1981, it moved to Park City. Robert Redford founded the Sundance Institute the same year, as an incubator for independent filmmakers — and in 1985, the institute took over operations of the festival to showcase those works. The name officially changed to the Sundance Film Festival in 1991.
The institute’s current contract with Park City continues through the 2026 festival. The next festival is scheduled for Jan. 23 to Feb. 2, 2025, primarily in Park City but also at venues in Salt Lake City.
In May, Sundance opened a two-part process to “explore viable locations in the United States to host” the festival. The institute invited cities to file for a Request for Information (RFI), and then sent 15 selected cities Request for Proposals (RFP).
Among the 15 cities that didn’t make the finalist list are: San Francisco; Nashville; Athens, Georgia; Savannah, Georgia; Portland, Oregon; and Minneapolis.
The film commission’s release included a joint statement by Park City Mayor Nann Worel, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall and Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson, which reads:
“We’ve been fortunate to host the Sundance Film Festival and witness some of the greatest films made over the past 40 years. And now, we are committed to working in partnership on a new vision of ‘Two Cities, One Experience’ with a shared goal of reinvigorating the Festival with an even greater tradition for storytelling over the next 40 years. At the heart of our proposal is a commitment to ensuring it remains an inspiring showcase of independent film, bringing together audiences and creators from all walks of life.”
