Which US cities are vying for the Sundance Film Festival?

A view of Main Street during the 2023 Sundance Film Festival. Photo: Sundance Institute // Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet

According to a report released by Sundance Film Festival organizers, the 2023 Sundance Film Festival brought $63 million in wages and $12.8 million in tax revenue to Utah. Out-of-state visitors spent $96 million during the festival, contributing $118.3 million to Utah’s gross domestic product.

PARK CITY, Utah – The Sundance Institute announced on April 17 that it would explore alternative locations to host the Sundance Film Festival for 2027 and beyond, and several large cities have expressed their interest.

Cities interested in hosting the festival were invited to submit an application as a part of a request for information (RFI) period, which ended on May 1.

According to a report from Deadline’s Dominic Patten, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Santa Fe, and Atlanta are some of the cities that threw their hats into the ring during the RFI process.

“Chicago has also allegedly made a move to bring Sundance to the already film festival rich Windy City, I hear,” Patten said. “A couple of locations in Upstate New York as well as Savannah, GA are in play too.”

Chicago will host an independent artist and film weekend in partnership with the Sundance Institute this summer, making it the only U.S. city to host an independent artist and film weekend in partnership with the Sundance Institute outside of Park City.

Park City also participated in the RFI period, and city officials hope that the film festival will remain in Park City.

“The Sundance Film Festival should remain in Utah. We have an experienced, innovative, and unified team in place to ensure this happens. Park City is not alone in this process,” said Park City Mayor Nann Worel. “Our regional partnerships are strong, and we are committed to a renewed, forward-looking effort to re-imagine the Festival together. In the end, we believe our 40 years of experience and strong partnerships will be key to our success and we thank the Sundance Institute for this opportunity.”

Select cities will move forward to participate in a request for proposal process which began yesterday, and will end June 21.