Free Sundancing for locals!

Banners for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival go up on Main Street in Park City, Jan. 3, 2024. Photo: Tanzi Propst // Park City Municipal Corporation

PARK CITY, Utah — Did you know you can explore some of Sundance for free? Check out the Beyond Film programming, the miscellaneous vendor events on Main Street, the Park City Seniors screenings and Sundance’s Best of Fest for locals. Of course, you can also just stroll Main Street and watch for celebrities, but participating is so much more fun.

Beyond Film

Supplementing the Festival experience, Beyond Film provides a community hub for Festivalgoers through artist conversations, talks with filmmakers and experts across the fields of art and science, and audience discourse. The events will take place in person from Jan. 19–26, 2024, are free and open to the public but do have limited capacity. Most are held at the Filmmaker’s Lodge at 550 Main Street. Expect to wait in line for about 45 minutes to enter. Credential holders have priority to some of these events.

For admission to Cinema Café, The Big Conversation, and New Frontier and 40th Edition Celebration events seating is limited and on a first-come, first-served basis. Download the Sundance Film Festival 2024 App and create an account. Upon arrival, present your Festival ID QR code on your mobile device for entry. You can access your Festival ID by logging in to your free Festival account and going to “My Profile.” Currently scheduled talks are:

• Jan. 19, 11 a.m. – Cinema Café: Sue Bird & Jay Ellis
• Jan. 20, 11 a.m. – Cinema Café: André Holland & Steven Soderbergh, moderated by Aisha Harris (NPR)
• Jan. 21, 12 p.m. – Cinema Café: Jesse Eisenberg & Chiwetel Ejiofor
• 2 p.m. – New Frontier Conversation: Let’s Rebrand Artificial Intelligence!
• Jan. 22, 11 a.m. – The Big Conversation: Screen of Consciousness
• Jan. 23, 11 a.m. – Cinema Café: Carla Gutiérrez, Lucy Lawless, and Lana Wilson, moderated by Sudeep Sharma
• Jan. 24, 11 a.m. – Cinema Café: Episodic Storytellers Mark Duplass, Mel Eslyn, Steve James, Nzingha Stewart, moderated by Ash Hoyle
• Jan 25, 11 a.m. – Cinema Café: Debra Granik & Dee Rees
• Jan. 25, 2 p.m. – Sundance Trivia: The 40^th Edition Edition
• Jan. 26, 2 p.m. – Beyond Film: Film Church

The Box at the Ray presents partner sponsored events

Check out 1768 Park Avenue in Park City from Jan. 19 to Jan. 23 for sessions such as:

• Jan. 19, 11:30 a.m. – An antidote to despair: how independent film is driving climate action
• Jan. 19, 2 p.m. – Satellite sessions: first-time filmmakers at the Sundance Film Festival
• Jan. 20, 11:30 a.m. – Mental Health in Film: Using narrative film to impact mental health in underserved communities

Get into the spirit with 2023 Sundance movies

Park City Library offers free movie streaming through Kanopy with your library card. Kanopy features award-winning Sundance films and over 500 films previously shown at the Sundance Film Festival. The Kanopy service has over 30,000 documentaries, classic and indie films, and children’s content on your desktop, mobile, or search for the app on your streaming device.

Try your luck at the always popular Celebrity spotting

In my experience, your best chance is at the entrances to the private hangouts on Main Street. One of those will be at the Audible Lounge at 675 Main Street.

Best of Fest screenings

Sundance encourages Utah audiences to view some of their best movies with their Best of Fest screenings. Locals can obtain free tickets to selected in-person screenings during the festival and for “Best of Fest”, which will be shown at the Ray Theater on the final Friday Jan. 26, and Saturday Jan. 27, at 4 p.m.  For more information and to request your own complimentary tickets from Sundance, please go to the Sundance website.

Park City Seniors are invited to special 2024 Sundance movie screenings

No reservations are necessary, but these screenings are for 2024 dues paid members.  If you have yet to pay your $5 dues, bring a fiver with you, as well as snacks and beverages to share during the screenings at the Park City Senior Center.

• Thursday, Jan. 25 – Start time about 1:45 p.m., (After Lunch) “Every Little Thing”
• Friday, Jan. 26 – Start time 12 p.m. “Thelma”
• Saturday, Jan. 27 – Start time 12 p.m. “Daughters”
• Sunday, Jan. 28 – Start time 11 a.m. “Thelma”
• Sunday, Jan. 28 – Start time 1 p.m. Audience Winner, U.S. Documentary Competition