People who make and distribute movies are in show business. They work in the motion picture industry. So the decision on whether or not the Sundance Film Festival will stay in Utah is likely to be more financial than artistic or cultural.
Still, despite the offer of $3.5 million in incentives from the state of Utah, and more from Salt Lake City and Park City, the state’s retrograde political climate is providing an unwelcome incentive for Sundance to move. And that would be a major loss to our state, culturally and economically.
The 2024 festival, according to a Sundance-sponsored study, added $132 million to the state’s economy and paid more than $13 million in state and local taxes, not to mention free global publicity for out tourist-dependent state.
The recent move by the Utah Legislature to ban the display of Pride flags, not only at public schools but at all public buildings, was cited by an anonymous “Sundance insider” in the Hollywood trade publication Deadline as “a terrible look for the state,” just as state and local leaders are trying to keep an institution devoted to bringing the voices of all kinds of human beings into film.
Worse, state Sen. Dan McCay, R-Riverton, took to social media to slam the festival as something that doesn’t fit Utah.
“Sundance promotes porn,” McCay tweeted, without providing a single frame of evidence. “Sundance promotes alternative lifestyles. Sundance promotes anti-LDS themes.”
Sundance promotes a wide variety of looks into what it means to be human. If that doesn’t fit in Utah, well, what else doesn’t fit here? What other business interests are likely to give the state a pass?
Utah leaders should realize that their desire to boost the state’s economy and their push to win votes by picking on minorities and marginalized populations are very much in conflict. The kind of conflict that might make a good movie, but is a lousy way to run a state.
Editorials represent the opinions of The Salt Lake Tribune editorial board, which operates independently from the newsroom.
![(Photo courtesy of Valerie Hamaker via Religion News Service) Nathan and Valerie Hamaker, co-hosts of the popular “Latter Day Struggles” podcast, have resigned their membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. In a livestream Wednesday, Valerie explained that "as paradoxical as it may seem, it's because we care about this [faith] tradition that we are opening our mouths.”](https://www.sltrib.com/resizer/v2/7O7343CT2BDQDHODE2UJCSGVYI.jpg?auth=f79527b0639685af42e3f3ba6105184c4784821d8f85033e9be34ea500cbd3b9&width=111&quality=88)
