Park City and Salt Lake City are finalists to host Sundance Film Festival past 2026

Park City and Salt Lake City are advancing on their bid to keep on hosting the Sundance Film Festival when their current contract with the Sundance Institute expires in 2026.
After evaluating bidders’ infrastructure, ethos and equity values, Sundance Institute chose a list of six cities that could become the new home of the prestigious film festival. In addition to the Utah cities, Atlanta, Georgia; Boulder, Colorado; Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky and Santa Fe, New Mexico are moving to the final selection phase.
The institute is planning on visiting the finalists in the coming weeks to explore the options and is expected to announce the selected host city in late 2024 or early 2025.
Utah’s bid to continue hosting Sundance Film Festival advances
“As we very carefully consider this important decision for our Festival, we believe these six finalists allow us the best opportunity to not only secure a sustainable future for our Festival, but also to build upon its legacy while continuing to support the next generation of storytellers and highlight bold new works of art,” Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute Board chair, and Amanda Kelso, Sundance Institute Acting CEO, said in a statement.
Though the festival has held screenings and events outside of Park City, the Utah Host Committee — which includes state leaders such as Gov. Spencer Cox, Speaker of the House Mike Schultz and Senate President Stuart Adams — is planning on expanding that strategy with a “Two Cities. One Experience” vision for future festivals, according to a news release from the Utah Film Commission.
The new plans are also contemplating new ways “to secure and expand upon the approximately $4 million in financial assistance the Festival currently receives from government entities,” in addition to $2 million from other donors.
“We’ve been fortunate to host the Sundance Film Festival and witness some of the greatest films made over the past 40 years. And now, we are committed to working in partnership on a new vision of ‘Two Cities, One Experience’ with a shared goal of reinvigorating the Festival with an even greater tradition for storytelling over the next 40 years,” Mayors Nann Worel of Park City, Erin Mendenhall of Salt Lake City and Jenny Wilson of Salt Lake County said in the release.
