Park City among top 15 cities to host Sundance Film Festival

Main Street Park City during the Sundance Film Festival. Photo: Sundance // Anjelica Jardiel

Park City has hosted the renowned film festival for the last 40 years

PARK CITY, Utah — Park City is among the top 15 cities the Sundance Institute is considering the host the Sundance Film Festival in 2027 and beyond, Deadline reported yesterday.

The Sundance Institute announced last month that it intended to explore alternative locations to host the Sundance Film Festival for its 2027 iteration and beyond.

The nonprofit held a request for information period for interested cities from April 17 to May 1, then select cities were invited to participate in a request for proposal (RFP) process from May 7 to June 21. Park City, which has hosted the festival for the last 40 years, was invited to participate in this process.

The Sundance Institute has not officially announced which other cities have been invited into the RFP process, and has remained mum in regard to whether or not there are currently any frontrunners to host the festival.

Although Deadline did not list all of Sundance’s top contenders, the following six U.S. cities were mentioned as potential host locations:

• Park City, UT
• Atlanta, GA
• Athens, GA
• Savannah, GA
• Santa Fe, NM
• San Francisco, CA

The article also reported that undisclosed municipalities in upstate New York and North Carolina are also in the running.

“Sundance has to evolve, the whole industry does, if that’s in Park City, Utah, Atlanta or somewhere else, it’s time,” an alleged stakeholder told Deadline. “Let see what the others have to offer.”

The city chosen to host the film festival will be announced during the end of 2024 or the beginning of 2025.

“This is a pageant, and host committees are reaching out, looking for an angle and way in,” an alleged festival insider told Deadline. “It will come down to money and venues, but mainly money.”