That’s a wrap, Park City! After more than 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival had its final screenings in the Utah mountain town during the last week of January. The Sundance Institute is now preparing to make Boulder its permanent home.
If you’re unfamiliar with the film festival, it’s time to get excited. Sundance was founded by actor Robert Redford in 1985 to uplift independent voices in cinema, and it’s since grown to attain a status as the most important festival for independent film. Many beloved filmmakers and actors credit Sundance with sparking their career into motion, and numerous others dream of landing a spot on its program. In 2024, 82 feature-length films were selected out of 4,410 entries. Short films are even more competitive, with 54 shorts selected out of 11,480 entries in the 2026 festival.
Award-winning and cult classic films alike have premiered at Sundance. Notable mentions include Get Out, Call Me By Your Name, American Psycho, 500 Days of Summer, Hereditary, Saw, The Blair Witch Project, and I Saw The TV Glow. It’s no coincidence that many of these are horror titles as Sundance has a nighttime screening for the genre, aptly named “the Midnight section.”
These are household names now, but many films enter the Sundance Film Festival without a distributor. Each premiere is essentially an audition for distributors, who are responsible for marketing films and booking them into theaters. A good distributor bid at Sundance is a golden ticket that can reimburse production costs and take a film to nationwide or even global success.
Now this powerhouse is touching down in our community. In a way, Sundance always had a home here in Boulder. Robert Redford attended the University of Colorado Boulder for a few semesters and was awarded an honorary doctorate in 1987 for his contribution to the arts and culture. Since his passing in September 2025, it’s a fitting tribute to move the festival he cultivated to his former home.
Boulder boasts a lively film scene, with the Boulder International Film Festival occurring annually to highlight up-and-coming filmmakers both locally and from around the world. CU Boulder has a legacy of involvement with independent and art cinema. The International Film Series, one of the nation’s longest-running arthouse cinema programs, was established at CU in 1941. Renowned experimental filmmaker Stan Brakhage taught CU film classes for decades, and his method of “first person cinema” continues to drive the department of Cinema Studies and Moving Image Arts.
Since the announcement of the festival’s move, the CU community has been abuzz wondering what new opportunities it may bring. While details are still forthcoming, it’s a safe bet that CU will be involved, as it is integral to the greater Boulder community. While the festival is zeroing in on Pearl Street Mall as its home base, CU campus is named as an additional gathering center with the Sundance website displaying a photo of Macky Auditorium.
As Sundance prepares to uproot from Utah and settle into its new Colorado home, festival programmers are hopeful about what an energized youthful audience may bring. Sundance had begun to outgrow Park City and the move to Boulder aims to revitalize it. The core remains the same: uplifting new voices.
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival offered a taste of what may be in store for us next year. A glance at the organization’s Instagram page reveals interview after interview with filmmakers and stars there to represent their projects. Charli xcx’s Brat summer-inspired mockumentary The Moment made a splash ahead of its wider theatrical release. Thousands of moviegoers flooded into town to catch new films or legacy screenings of prior Sundance hits. It’s a flaming torch now being passed on.
The 2027 Sundance Film Festival is just under a year away. Be prepared for an influx of traffic and opportunities.