It’s kind of hard to believe, but the Sundance Film Festival that began last Thursday will host its final events in Park City on Feb. 1. The festival is relocating to Boulder, Colorado, in 2027, a decision the organizers announced last spring.
With the end of the festival’s 46-year run in Park City, where it moved in 1981 from a smaller festival in Salt Lake City, thousands of memories and millions of dollars spent in the local economy goes with its ending. The late founder Robert Redford has been the driving force behind the festival that has premiered and in essence promoted scores of award-winning movies from both studios and independent filmmakers. This year, a large group of A-lister actors, producers, directors and writers were scheduled to come to Park City last week or this week, including (alphabetically) Sterling K. Brown, Steve Buscemi, Margaret Cho, Olivia Coleman, Russell Crowe, Penelope Cruz, Elizabeth Debecki, Kaitlyn Dever, Peter Dinklage, David Duchovny, Giancarlo Esposito, Dave Franco, Jon Hamm, Ed Harris, Ethan Hawke, Dustin Hoffman, Rashida Jones, Billie Jean King, Rob Lowe, Tatiana Maslany, Kate McKinnon, Ed Norton, Jenna Ortega, Chris Pine, Natalie Portman, Seth Rogan, Jenny Slate, Channing Tatum, Sam Waterton, Olivia Wilde, Patrick Wilson and Catherine Zeta-Jones.
Close to 100 films will be shown, not including dozens of other shorts. Entertainment will be offered at lots of private parties and clubs. Documentary films will include “Knife: The Salman Rushdie story” that will feature him as a guest speaker, and “Lake,” a doc about the Great Salt Lake with filmmaker Abby Ellis in attendance (Leonardo DiCaprio was among the executive producers, though he’s not scheduled to attend Sundance).
Personally, I have covered Sundance for years; this will be my 19th consecutive year as a fully accredited journalist at SFF. Salt Lake Business Journal, in our next issue, will recap the festival, look at the business implications for Park City and surrounding areas as Sundance departs, and reflect on nearly five decades of SFF in Utah.