2 weeks Ago
Even though the Sundance Film Festival called Park City its home for four decades, the city’s mayor, Nann Worel, said she’s not especially concerned about the hole it’s going to leave behind when it heads for Boulder, Colorado, in 2027. While she recognized the event’s importance to many of her constituents who enjoy the energy the festival brings and the economic impact it has on Main Street merchants, she also emphasized that Park City is still a popular destination, even if it’s not the one the Sundance Institute chose for the future of its annual film celebration. “I hope some sort of new festival or event comes in to fill that space,” she said.
“Park City is a very popular destination for people wanting to hold different festivals or huge events.” Though she said the institute’s decision was unfortunate, Worel added that she didn’t think the bid process was predetermined to pull the festival out of Utah after the 2026 festival. Rather, she said she thinks the institute felt the need to explore its other options “in due diligence.
” (Sean P. Means | The Salt Lake Tribune) A Park City resident wears a sticker, "Keep Sundance in Utah," at a Sundance Film Festival screening at the Eccles Theatre in Park City, Thursday, Jan. 23, 2025.
“Even though this festival had been in Park City for 40 years, we still had to talk about our venues and our transportation system and all of that,” she said. The mayor also said she doesn’t think Utah leaders could have done anything else to keep the festival anchored here. Worel said she was proud of the collaboration among Park City, Salt Lake City, Salt Lake County, the governor’s office and private stakeholders that would have seen the festival open in Park City with “splashy things” and continue in Salt Lake City’s Main Street area, “which is more affordable than Park City.
” “The housing in Park City has been long identified as a barrier to some of the young filmmakers that want to come up and participate in the festival,” Worel said. “I think that, overall, Utah put forth a huge effort.” (Eddie Clark | Sundance Institute) Eugene Hernandez, director of the Sundance Film Festival, talks to a Colorado reporter outside the Boulder Theatre in Boulder, Colorado, on Thursday, March 27, 2025, at a celebration to mark the impending move of the Sundance Film Festival to Boulder starting in 2027.
The bid process that ended with the institute’s decision to move to Colorado took a year and culminated with three finalists — Boulder, Cincinnati and a split bid between Salt Lake City and Park City. Ultimately, according to the institute’s acting CEO, Amanda Kelso, the decision was close, but Boulder’s appeal as a place the festival can grow ultimately won them over. Since losing the festival, Utah leaders have floated the idea of starting a new film festival , using the money that had been allocated to go to Sundance, “one that honors our legacy and writes the next chapter of independent film in Utah,” Utah Gov.
Spencer Cox said on social media after Sundance’s announcement. Cox, in his monthly news conference Thursday, said that since the Sundance decision, “the number of people in lots of different industries, in arts and entertainment, who are interested in doing something bigger here and better than Sundance is just off the charts. My phone hasn’t stopped ringing.
” Cox added that some of those ideas may start materializing in the next month or so. Worel said that “there’s all sorts of opportunities that are going to become available to the state and to Park City, specifically. .
.. I’m wide open to the idea of another film festival and how that might be created so it’s different than what Sundance brought to the table.
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