Sundance likely to center around Boulder’s Pearl Street, CU campus

BOULDER — The Sundance Film Festival will make Boulder its new home beginning in 2027, and festival organizers say the world-class cinema event is likely to be focused around the city’s downtown and Pearl Street Mall areas, with the nearby University of Colorado campus playing host to some of the festivities. 

“Together with the Boulder host committee, the (Sundance) Institute envisions the heart of the Festival centered in downtown Boulder utilizing a wide array of theaters and venues, and incorporating spaces around the Pearl Street Mall, a pedestrian-only street,” the institute, the Sundance Film Festival’s nonprofit organizing body, said Thursday. “Nearby spaces will offer dedicated locations for our community to gather, including select spots on the University of Colorado Boulder campus. The majestic Rocky Mountains will frame the horizon for festival goers.”

Leaders with the Sundance Institute, founded more than four decades ago by Hollywood legend Robert Redford, chose Boulder as the festival’s new homebase for a decade. Boulder beat out finalist bids by the festival’s long-time host city of Park City, Utah, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

“The University of Colorado Boulder is thrilled to join the cast and crew bringing the legendary Sundance Film Festival to Colorado,” University of Colorado Boulder chancellor Justin Schwartz said in a prepared statement. “We are excited for tens of thousands of festival guests to experience what we already know: Boulder is an incredible place to immerse yourself in the arts, culture, nature and history that make life worth living. I’m delighted by the opportunities the festival will offer to our students, faculty, staff and extended community.”

Winning the festival was a group effort, business and government leaders in Boulder and beyond have said. 

“The pursuit of this bid to win the opportunity to host the Sundance Film Festival has been a collaborative effort at the state, regional and local level from the very outset,” Boulder Chamber CEO John Tayer said, “and that shows the character of Colorado’s approach to economic development.”

Among the parties that last year helped submit a response to a request for proposal, or RFP, to Sundance on behalf of Boulder are the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Colorado Office of Film Television and Media, the Boulder Chamber, the city, the University of Colorado, the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau and the Stanley Film Center at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park.

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