Boulder to host Sundance Film Festival starting in 2027

Boulder won Sundance by offering a cheaper lodging pitch than Park City, a reminder that room rates can steer where marquee events land. For Summit County, where resort pricing has long been a pressure point, the move reads like a cautionary comparison: when beds get too expensive or too scarce, organizers start looking elsewhere.

Sundance Institute said on March 27, 2025, that Boulder would become the festival’s home beginning in 2027 after a yearlong formal RFI and RFP process. The 2026 festival, held January 22 through February 1, 2026, was the last in Park City, Utah, and the 2027 edition is set for January 21-31, 2027, in Boulder. Boulder advanced over Cincinnati and Salt Lake City in the final round, with earlier semifinalists that reportedly included Atlanta, Santa Fe and Louisville.

Boulder’s proposal, submitted in June 2024 by Visit Boulder, had backing from the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media, Colorado Creative Industries, the Colorado Tourism Office, the City of Boulder, the Boulder Chamber, CU Boulder and the Stanley Film Center. Sundance cited the city’s arts community, walkability, mountain setting and access to Denver International Airport. Festival activity is expected to center downtown around Pearl Street Mall and on or near the University of Colorado Boulder campus. Gov. Jared Polis cast the move as a jobs and small-business boost for Colorado’s arts and film economy.

The economic math explains why lodging mattered. Colorado officials pointed to the 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s more than $132 million contribution to Utah’s economy, 1,730 jobs, $69.7 million in wages and more than 24,000 out-of-state visitors. Sundance said Park City had become too financially cumbersome for many filmmakers and attendees because affordable lodging was hard to find. That same pressure is familiar in Summit County, where high peak-season room rates can shape which events come, how long visitors stay, and how hard it is for hotels, restaurants and other employers to staff up.