Sundance Film Festival sets dates, theaters for first Colorado edition in 2027

The Sundance Film Festival may be starting anew in Boulder, Colorado, next year, but it's sticking with its late January time frame. Festival organizers on Tuesday said the 2027 festival will begin Jan. 21 and run through Jan. 31. They also revealed over a dozen key venues including 11 theaters where premieres will be held. Some of the official theaters will include the Boulder High School auditorium, the Casey Middle School auditorium, the Cinemark Century Boulder, the Boulder Theater and several University of Colorado Boulder locations like the Macky Auditorium Concert Hall and the Roe Green Theatre. Sundance Film Festival and public programming director Eugene Hernandez said they're working closely with the Colorado community. "Nestled at the base of Colorado's iconic Flatirons, venues across the city and CU Boulder's campus provide an ideal setting for festivalgoers from across the world to come together, revel in art, spark conversation, and create unforgettable memories," Hernandez said in a statement. Last month the nation's premier independent film festival wrapped its final edition in its longtime home of Park City, Utah. Sundance organizers decided to search for a new home because they said the festival had outgrown the ski town it helped put on the map and developed an air of exclusivity that took focus away from the films. Boulder emerged victorious from a yearlong search in which numerous U.S. cities vied to host. Robert Redford, who died in September at age 89, established the festival and development programs for filmmakers in the Utah mountains as a haven for independent storytelling far from the pressures of Hollywood. Before his death, Redford, who attended the University of Colorado Boulder, gave his blessing for the festival to relocate. His daughter Amy Redford, who serves on the Sundance Institute's board of trustees, told The Associated Press last month that she's excited about the transition, even if it comes with a steep learning curve. The piece of her father's legacy that she said meant the most to him — the institute's lab programs for emerging screenwriters and directors — will remain in Utah, at the resort he founded, about 34 miles (54 kilometers) south of Park City.