The Sundance Film Festival is Boulder bound, leaving its home of four decades in Park City, Utah, for a new chapter in neighboring Colorado.
Organizers announced their decision Thursday after a yearlong search in which numerous U.S. cities vied to host the nation’s premier independent film festival. The other finalists were Cincinnati, Ohio, and a combined Salt Lake City and Park City bid.
Festival leaders said politics did not influence their move from conservative Utah to liberal Colorado. They did however make “ethos and equity values” one of their criteria and referred to Boulder in their announcement as a “welcoming environment.”
Why was Boulder chosen?
Boulder stood out to organizers as an artsy, walkable and medium-sized city close to nature. It has one of the highest concentrations of professional artists in the U.S. and is home to the University of Colorado, where the film program contributes to a vibrant art scene, Sundance leaders said. They noted the large student population and campus venues will create new opportunities to engage young people in the event.
Nearby nature in the Rocky Mountain foothills offers room for visitors and artists to stretch their legs and draw inspiration from high country scenery. It’s also just over half an hour from downtown Denver and not much farther to the city’s international airport. There is not currently a light rail system connecting Denver to Boulder, but a bus runs between the two cities.
When Sundance leaders began their search for a new home, they said the festival had outgrown the charming ski town of Park City and developed an air of exclusivity that took focus away from the films. Boulder, a city of 100,000 people, has space for a more centralized festival. But it’s not all that more affordable for attendees. The cost of living is estimated to be 31% higher than the national average, versus Park City’s 33%, according to the Economic Research Institute. Visitors also say it can be difficult to find available hotel rooms and short term rentals when the university hosts large events or home football games.
What is Boulder known for?
Actor Jonah Hill, “South Park” creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone and — perhaps most significantly — Sundance founder Robert Redford all attended the University of Colorado in Boulder. The school has a heady party culture that sometimes spills into the surrounding streets. The city is also home to a private Buddhist college.
Redford is remembered in Boulder with a mural inside The Sink, a restaurant and bar where he worked as a janitor back in his college days.
“It’s gonna be really fun to see what happens and when people are introduced to the beauty of Boulder and how amazing this place is. It’s just gonna elevate Boulder’s presence on the world stage, I think,” said Chris Heinritz, a co-owner of The Sink.
Just outside Denver’s suburbs, Boulder has its own identity — and decades ago a very unique, hippie vibe. Well before Colorado voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2012, thousands of University of Colorado students and others would gather on campus to smoke pot every April 20.
Today, Boulder retains its charm at the foot of the sandstone Flatirons, a foothill range crisscrossed by hiking trails that begin at the Colorado Chautauqua, a cultural and performing arts hub dating to the 1800s. The pedestrian-only Pearl Street Mall with its nearby theaters could provide a similar central hub to Park City’s Main Street.
