Call me a purist, but I’m not pleased that the Sundance Film Festival is potentially looking to move out of Utah by the year 2027. They are currently taking bids on a spot to relocate to. A contender has emerged, and it’s Boulder, Colorado.
The city at the foothills of the Rocky Mountains formally submitted its pitch on Thursday morning, with an offering of a $1.5 million incentive from the state and more than one-to-one non-state matching funds.
Boulder does make sense. It’s a serene locale, set in the Mountains, of comparable size to Park City. Redford also has close ties to Boulder — he attended university there — and worked as a janitor at a local restaurant — before heading to Hollywood for his acting career. His son Jamie and daughter Shauna also both graduated from the university in 1985.
The fest has been taking place in Utah since 1985. The 2025 and 2026 editions will still be in Park City. However, if the fest wants to extend its contract with Utah, beyond 2026, the deadline is October 2024. Cities have until tomorrow to submit their final bids to host the festival, and the three finalists will be announced next month.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.