The prestigious Sundance Film Festival is set to embark on a new chapter in Boulder, Colorado, from 21 to 31 January 2027, maintaining its traditional late January slot. Organisers have unveiled more than a dozen key venues for the event, including 11 theatres designated for premieres.
Among the confirmed locations are the Boulder High School auditorium, the Casey Middle School auditorium, the Cinemark Century Boulder, the Boulder Theater, and several University of Colorado Boulder sites such as the Macky Auditorium Concert Hall and the Roe Green Theatre.
Eugene Hernandez, Sundance Film Festival and public programming director, emphasised close collaboration with the local Colorado community.
"Nestled at the base of Colorado’s iconic Flatirons, venues across the city and CU Boulder’s campus provide an ideal setting for festivalgoers from across the world to come together, revel in art, spark conversation, and create unforgettable memories," Mr Hernandez stated.
The move follows the independent film festival’s final edition in its long-standing home of Park City, Utah, last month. Sundance organisers initiated a search for a new location, citing that the festival had outgrown the ski town it helped popularise and had developed an an air of exclusivity that detracted from the cinematic focus. Boulder was selected after a year-long competitive process involving numerous US cities.
Robert Redford, who passed away in September at 89, founded the festival and its development programmes for filmmakers in the Utah mountains, envisioning it as a sanctuary for independent storytelling away from Hollywood’s influence. Before his death, Redford, an alumnus of the University of Colorado Boulder, gave his approval for the festival’s relocation.
His daughter, Amy Redford, a trustee on the Sundance Institute’s board, expressed her enthusiasm for the transition last month, acknowledging the significant learning curve involved. The institute’s lab programmes for emerging screenwriters and directors, which she noted were the most cherished part of her father’s legacy, will remain in Utah at the resort he established, approximately 34 miles (54 kilometres) south of Park City.
