After more than 40 years of being held in Park City, Utah, the Sundance Film Festival is moving to Boulder. In January 2027, Sundance will be held in Boulder for the first time, marking a monumental moment in the city’s history.
Sundance relocated from Park City to Boulder because their contract with the city was up. Boulder was selected as the new home for Sundance over Cincinnati, Ohio, and Park City, thanks to Boulder’s “convergence of arts, technology, music, food, and education scenes (festival.sundance.org), and Boulder’s large number of young people that the festival is hoping to draw.
The festival operates with the mission of “championing original voices, forging meaningful connections, and entertaining audiences from around the world (festival.sundance.org).” In the past, the festival has been a career-changing event for filmmakers, getting their films noticed by global audiences for the first time. Grammy award winner Ryan Coogler of Sinners got his start at the Sundance Film Festival, and Paul Thomas Anderson of One Battle After Another also gained recognition at Sundance.
On February 24th, 2026, the Sundance film festival screening locations were announced. The screenings will be spread out throughout Boulder in existing locations. The venues are the Canyon Theater at the Boulder Public Library, the Chautauqua Auditorium, eTown Hall, Muenzinger Auditorium and the Roe Green Theatre at CU Boulder, the Boulder Theatre, Cinemark Century Boulder, Macky Auditorium, Old main at CU Boulder, Casey Middle School Auditorium, and most notably, the Boulder High School Auditorium.
It is an incredible honor to be named as a screening venue for the Sundance Film Festival, and the Boulder High community is energized by this announcement. The auditorium was selected due to its state of the art capabilities as well as Boulder High’s reputation as having outstanding visual and performing arts programs.
As a small city, Boulder has lots of preparing to do before the festival arrives in January of 2027. To start, the city has already implemented The Boulder Festival Lodging Program, which will allow home owners in Boulder to rent out their homes to festival goers.
Boulder is estimating that 90,000 people will be heading to town come January 2027 for the festival. With that amount of people, the financial gain for the city will be incredible. In 2025, the festival generated 196.1 million dollars in economic impact over its 10 day span. A lot of that money impacts small businesses, of which Boulder has many.
One of the main updates the city needs to make is increasing infrastructure that can handle the winter weather. For a city that is usually crowded in the summer and spring time, Boulder needs to ensure they are prepared to transport festival goers during a potentially cold and icy winter.
Overall, Boulder is buzzing with excitement as preparations to welcome thousands of people to the city are underway. This year will set the blueprint for years to come and decide if Boulder will be the new long term home for the world renowned Sundance Film Festival.
