Thousands of visitors from both inside and outside of Utah attended this year’s Sundance Film Festival, as they have for more than 40 years. (Tom Haraldsen/Salt Lake Business Journal)
Even as this year’s event unfolded, and the throngs of people strolled along Main Street and frequented the various venues in Park City during this year’s Sundance Film Festival, two thoughts prevailed: What will it be like this year without founder Robert Redford at the festival, and how will it go in the future once it moves to Boulder, Colorado, next year?
“It’s on everyone’s mind,” said Danicah Waldo, a filmmaker from New York who was attending her second SFF. “There’s still a lot of energy here, still a lot of excitement. But it does feel a bit different without Mr. Redford and the pending move compared to last year.”
Amy Redford greeted the media at a press event as the Sundance Film Festival began, saying her father loved Utah and was grateful for the public’s support of the fest. (Tom Haraldsen/Salt Lake Business Journal)
After more than four decades in Utah, festival organizers announced last spring that Sundance would move to Boulder next year, essentially agreeing to a guarantee of about $70 million from the state of Colorado and local partners for incentives and tax credits over 10 years. Half of that came from the city of Boulder, Visit Boulder and CU Boulder. Utah made a failed bid of $54.1 million in public cash commitments over 10 years, with the Utah Legislature approving a rather paltry pledge of $3.5 million annually.
In 2025, SFF was attended by 85,000 people, and out-of-state visitors spent about $162.4 million and generated $21.1 million in state and local revenue. But there were a lot of naysayers among state leaders who disdained the “liberal” messages of films and actors/directors who came to the festival. Sundance organizers were also worried about Park City’s limited capacity, snarling traffic jams during the festival, and its high prices for food and lodging. Colorado seemed much more open-minded and more welcoming. Boulder was in and Park City was out.
“Look, I get it,” said Kyle Harrison, a filmmaker and longtime Sundance fan who was attending his 10th SFF. “I’m willing to give Boulder a try next year, but I think Sundance will lose its identity outside of Park City. This has been its longtime home. It’s quaint and has an ambience that I don’t think Boulder will match. This is a mountain community, not a college town.”
Merchants along Main Street will certainly feel the difference. In one local store, the merchant told me that 11 days of Sundance can mean sales revenues that carry them through “mud season,” that 6-to-8-week period between the end of skiing and the arrival of spring/summer tourists. “Without Sundance going forward, those days are gone,” he said. “I’m afraid some of the stores and restaurants may be as well.”
Amy Redford, Robert Redford’s daughter who is on the festival board and was ever-present this year, said at a press event Jan. 21 that her dad “loved this place and its people.” She invited the media to look at the mountains, saying they added perspective to what she called “the bedrock that allowed us to build. Sundance Mountain Resort is the nucleus for all of this. The Sundance Institute, and all the developmental programs for filmmakers that my father created, will remain here.”
Director Judd Apatow was at Sundance again this year with a new film, and has been to SFF many times.
“I’m deeply saddened to see it leave,” he said in an interview with the Salt Lake Business Journal. “Things happen here that haven’t, or perhaps couldn’t, happen anywhere else. Projects previewed, relationships formed, deals made. There’s a mystique to Sundance like no other place.”
As the festival grew to a close this year, as signage came down and event venues cleared, what didn’t end were the memories for so many who’ve attended the Sundance Film Festival over its four decades in Utah. The theme of this year’s festival was “Everyone has a story,” a phrase that Amy Redford told me her father used all the time.
“He’s not the only one who said it, but he is one of the few that did something about it,” she said.
Now, it will be Boulder’s turn to try and keep that spirit alive.