The Sundance Institute has selected the final cities to host the 2027 Sundance Film Festival.
In addition to the possibility of staying in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, the cities that qualified for the next round are Atlanta, Cincinnati, Boulder, Colorado, Louisville, Kentucky, and Santa Fe, New Mexico.
The Sundance Institute looked at each city's infrastructure and event capabilities, and cities were required to demonstrate how they would welcome and foster Sundance's diverse community and culture of independent creativity, according to the institute.
“Each of these cities has a vibrant creative ecosystem, either expanding or well-established, and has enabled creativity to flourish in their cities through their support of the arts,” said Eugene Hernandez, festival director and director of public programming, in a statement. “These cities understand our ethos, align with our core values, and have shown us exciting possibilities for partnership with our festival—for our artists, our audiences, and everyone who wants to be a part of Sundance Film Festival—and that makes us want to see more.”
The festival is scheduled to be held in Park City and Salt Lake City in 2025 and 2026.
The selection committee plans to visit each of the finalist cities in the coming weeks to further explore the possibilities. While cities like Cincinnati may not seem like obvious choices, the institute noted the city’s strong independent film culture. Meanwhile, Louisville offers a long-standing focus on arts and culture with a very diverse community. Santa Fe has a thriving film community and a focus on the arts in a historic tourist location, while Boulder’s focus on sustainability was also key to its selection. Atlanta scores highly on the stock index and is a major film production hub with a skilled industry workforce. The organizers also noted that Salt Lake City and Park City have thriving economies, growing populations, and increasing diversity.
“For more than 40 years, Sundance has supported and helped shine a light on independent filmmakers and their work,” said Sundance Institute Board Chair Epps Burno and Acting CEO Amanda Kelso. “As we carefully consider this important decision for our festival, we believe these six finalists give us the best opportunity to not only secure a sustainable future for our festival, but also to build on its legacy while continuing to support the next generation of storytellers and shine a light on bold new works of art.”
“Throughout this process, we have engaged in thoughtful, energetic, creative, and supportive conversations with governors, mayors, arts advocates, film commissioners, and other local leaders from locations across the country,” Hernandez continued. “We have been encouraged by the tremendous enthusiasm and engagement from cities across the country and deeply appreciate the energy that has gone into each proposal.”
