How to navigate the 2025 Sundance Film Festival: Tickets, parking and more

The vibe at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival is likely to be, in a word, weird.

For Utahns, the looming question remains whether the annual independent film celebration held in Park City and Salt Lake City since 1981 will stay in Utah after next year’s edition. An announcement on whether the festival could move to Cincinnati, Ohio, or Boulder, Colorado, in the future isn’t expected until March.

The Hollywood industry types who visit each January also will be preoccupied this year, after wildfires destroyed thousands of homes in the Los Angeles area. One in Pacific Palisades belonged to Michelle Satter, the founding artistic director of Sundance Institute’s filmmakers labs, and her husband, writer and producer David Latt. The couple shared the news on Instagram Jan. 9.

As of Jan. 15, at least 25 people had died in the fires, The New York Times reported, and thousands were evacuated. Amanda Kelso, the institute’s interim CEO, and Eugene Hernandez, the festival’s director, wrote an open letter Monday, saying the festival would continue as scheduled, Jan. 23-Feb. 2, in Park City and Salt Lake City.

“Our community has a history of coming together when passion and perseverance are needed most, drawing strength from the deep bonds that make us so resilient,” their letter read. “Right now, we may mourn, but we also know it is important to carry on.”

Other industry events have been postponed because of the wildfires, including the Critics Choice Awards. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced Monday that, because of the wildfires, the announcement of nominees for this year’s Oscars is being rescheduled to Jan. 23 – Sundance’s opening day.

It’s not the first time Sundance has kept its schedule after a natural disaster in the L.A. area. In 1994, a major earthquake hit the San Fernando Valley — with an epicenter in Northridge, about 19 miles northwest of downtown Los Angeles — three days before that year’s festival kicked off with an opening-night screening of “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”

The show also went on in 2008, when festivalgoers heard that the actor Heath Ledger had died, and in 2020, when Angelenos visiting Park City learned that basketball star and L.A. icon Kobe Bryant had died.

What can Utahns expect from this year’s Sundance? This guide is meant to help you navigate it.

How do I get tickets?

Most of the passes and ticket packages for this year’s festival were sold out long ago. (The exception is the Express Pass for the festival’s second half, Jan. 29-Feb. 2 — which costs $4,200.)

Individual in-person tickets for the 88 festival feature films go on sale online at festival.sundance.org starting Jan. 16, at 10 a.m. Mountain time. Tickets are $35 per screening, which is up from $30 last year. Even with the higher price, expect many screenings to sell out.

Even if a screening sells out, there’s still a chance to get a seat, thanks to the waitlist. The festival sets aside a block of each screening’s seats for passholders — and if those folks don’t show up, the seats open up to people in the waitlist.

To get on the waitlist for any screening, you have to use the festival’s app — so download that onto your smartphone now to start an account. The app will walk you through the process of how to get into line virtually before each screening. (The app is also good to have for film schedules and transit maps, and to vote for the festival’s audience awards.)

The ticket passes and packages for the festival’s online screenings — which are accessible during the festival’s last four days, Jan. 30 to Feb. 2 — also are sold out. You can still buy the online short-films pass, for $50, which provides access to all of the festival’s short films during those four days.

Individual tickets for online screenings — 52 of the festival’s 88 feature-length titles are available to stream — also go on sale Jan. 16, also at $35 each. Create an account on the Sundance website to access the online portal.

Where do I see films?

Sundance’s current contract with Park City, which runs out after the 2026 festival, requires the bulk of festival screenings to be held in the ski town. Still, the festival’s Park City footprint is smaller than in recent years.

The main Park City venues are: The Eccles Theater, 1750 Kearns Blvd.; the Egyptian Theatre, 328 Main St.; the Library Center Theatre, 1255 Park Ave.; The Ray Theatre, 1768 Park Ave.; and the Megaplex Theatres Park City at Redstone, 6030 Market St. (at Kimball Junction).

The Eccles is Park City’s largest venue and is only screening movies for the festival’s first six days. But as the Eccles closes, the Holiday Village theaters, where press and industry screenings are held, open up to public screenings from Wednesday, Jan. 29, through the festival’s end on Feb. 2.

The Holiday Village theaters are in the same shopping center as The Ray, near the Fresh Market supermarket. The Redstone theaters in Kimball Junction, which the Utah-based Megaplex Theatres chain took over last year, is opening four screens for festival films — one more than in previous years.

The Prospector Square Theatre is not being used as a festival venue this year. The converted theater spaces that were used before the COVID-19 pandemic — the MARC (in the Park City racquet club), the Temple Theatre (in the city’s synagogue) and the DoubleTree Hotel (formerly The Yarrow) — remain out of service, too.

Sundance’s Salt Lake City footprint is also reduced this year, with just two downtown venues operating: The Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts, at 138 W. 300 South; and two screens at the Broadway Centre Cinemas, 111 E. 300 South.

Together, they have scheduled more than 100 screenings, from Jan. 24 to Feb. 2.

Screening etiquette

If you want to see celebrities, the Premieres section and the U.S. Dramatic competition films are more likely to have them in attendance — at least in the first half of the festival. Those movies, because they have stars attached, are also more likely to be seen in theaters later on (or show up on a streaming service).

Be adventurous and pick out something that may never come this way again, especially among the documentaries. Also, check out the shorts programs, which is where the next generation of talent can be found.

Be on time. If you have a pass or a ticket, arrive at a venue 30 minutes before showtime, or risk seeing your seat go to someone on the waitlist. Security guards will also ask you to open bags and jackets for inspection, which also takes time.

Concessions vary from venue to venue. Some places will let you take food into the auditorium, while others — the Eccles has been a stickler about this — only allow water bottles.

At the Q&As, think before you raise your hand. Don’t ask personal questions, or questions about the movie’s budget. And don’t ask the star for an autograph or a hug.

There’s more to Sundance than movies. There are the panels and conversations, particularly in the Cinema Cafe in the Filmmakers Lodge on Main Street. And there’s ample opportunity for celebrity spotting, particularly the first weekend on the newer sections of Main Street; just follow the crowds of onlookers.

What about Slamdance?

The Slamdance Film Festival — which “The Simpsons” once called Sundance’s “alternative cousin” — will not be in Park City, its home since it launched in 1995. After Sundance announced its plans to seek a possible new home, Slamdance didn’t wait to make its own decision. Slamdance organizers announced that the festival is leaving Park City, and will run in Los Angeles, Feb. 20-26.

Parking — and getting around

There is no public parking at any Sundance theaters or venues in Park City. There’s also no festival parking at businesses near Sundance venues, and those businesses don’t mess around — ask anyone who’s parked at the Fresh Market and found out that their car was towed.

There’s a free park-and-ride at Richardson Flat, east of the Eccles Theatre along Kearns Boulevard.

Shuttles run from that lot to the Eccles from 7 a.m. to 2 a.m., and to the Main Street transit center from 6 p.m. to 1:30 a.m. (On Feb. 2, the festival’s last day, shuttles stop running at 11 p.m.).

Some people also park at Kimball Junction — the transit hub is on the west side of State Highway 224, near the Walmart — and take Park City transit into town. Again, be careful in whose lot you park; usually there’s signage to warn you if they’ll tow your car.

Once you’ve landed in Park City, take advantage of the shuttle buses, which go to all the venues and to Main Street, where the serious action is for lounges, restaurants and parties.

Main Street will be pedestrian-only, the city announced Wednesday. “This proactive approach ensures that we can all enjoy the Festival in a secure and welcoming environment,” Wade Carpenter, Park City’s police chief, said in a news release.

Living the festival life

When navigating Sundance, remember the two “H’s” — hydration and hand sanitizer.

The altitude of Park City, depending on where you are, is around 6,900 feet above sea level. Salt Lakers are used to higher altitudes (the city is generally around 4,300 feet above sea level), but folks from the coasts will be gasping for oxygen. Both locals and out-of-towners are advised to drink plenty of water to avoid altitude sickness.

To avoid other sicknesses, keep a small bottle of hand sanitizer on you. Festival attendees are packed into theaters, shuttle buses and parties all day and night. Getting sick at Sundance — sometimes called “festival crud” — is real, and you want to do what you can to avoid it.

When you’re packed into those theaters, buses and parties, talk to the people around you. They probably love movies as much as you do, and you’ll want to trade notes on what you’ve seen at the festival. Many lifelong friendships, and even a few marriages, have started at Sundance this way.

If you’re planning to eat dinner, make extra time. Some Park City restaurants rent themselves out to corporate sponsors for private events. Others remain open, but they’re often crowded or have long wait times to get a table. And the waitstaff in your typical Park City restaurant is not impressed by anyone who says, “Don’t you know who I am?” — either they really don’t, or they do and don’t care.

Lastly, remember that even with worries about the future, people will be coming to Utah for 11 days to see great films, discover fresh talent, connect with other movie lovers and make memories. It’s a festival, and festivals are supposed to be fun.