The Sundance Movie Competition is packing up after over 40 years in Park Metropolis, Utah, however sticking to the mountains. The long-lasting occasion might be shifting only one state over to Boulder, Colorado for the 2027 pageant and past. The 2026 pageant will nonetheless happen in Park Metropolis.
The choice adopted an in depth seek for a brand new location that started in 2024, with the candidate cities finally narrowed right down to Cincinnati, Ohio, Salt Lake Metropolis, Utah, and Boulder. In line with the official launch from the pageant, “the Institute envisions the guts of the Competition centered in downtown Boulder using a big selection of theaters and venues, and incorporating areas across the Pearl Road Mall, a pedestrian-only avenue. Close by areas will supply devoted places for our group to assemble, together with choose spots on the College of Colorado (CU) Boulder campus. The majestic Rocky Mountains will body the horizon for pageant goers.”
The explanations for the shift are many, however maybe finest encapsulated by this insider remark reported by Deadline in April 2024: “One thing needed to change, the pageant is outgrowing Park Metropolis, the stretch marks are displaying. The established order wanted a kick and a restart, and that is the easiest way to do it, even when it places a couple of individuals’s noses out of joint.”
Associated Video
Competition founder Robert Redford stated in a press release that “I based the Sundance Institute with a dedication to discovering and growing unbiased artists, with the Sundance Movie Competition serving because the platform for tales to assist increase audiences and broaden the panorama. That mission stays much more crucial right this moment and can proceed to be our core precept. Phrases can’t categorical the honest gratitude I’ve for Park Metropolis, the state of Utah, and all these within the Utah group which have helped to construct the group. What we’ve created is remarkably particular and defining. As change is inevitable, we should all the time evolve and develop, which has been on the core of our survival. This transfer will make sure that the Competition continues its work of threat taking, supporting modern storytellers, fostering independence, and entertaining and enlightening audiences. I’m grateful to the Boulder group for its help, and I stay up for seeing what the long run holds for the Competition there.”
Whereas it is a seismic change for the pageant, Sundance itself has developed dramatically over time from its indie roots, turning into a possible launching pad for Oscar-winning movies like CODA and A Actual Ache lately in addition to a multi-million-dollar movie market. One factor that probably gained’t change, even when the placement does: It stays some of the prestigious alternatives for unbiased filmmakers to get their work seen by the world.
For extra, try sondramedia‘s assessment roundup of all the flicks we noticed throughout the 2025 pageant. The 2026 version will run from January twenty second to February 1st, 2026 in Park Metropolis.
