Boulder Theater (Photo courtesy of Miles Fujimoto)
Sundance Film Festival director Eugene Hernandez had a message for Colorado student reporters.
Speaking at a Sept. 30 press conference on the festival’s move from Park City to Boulder, he shared the one word at the heart of the festival’s new home: community.
As Sundance prepares to open in Boulder Jan. 21-31 2027, Hernandez and Sundance Institute managing director Paula DuPré Pesmen said the festival plans to carry its mission and values forward while building a new event around the University of Colorado Boulder and the city’s artistic traditions and culture. Hernandez said the festival’s core will not change.
“The vision and the values and the history and legacy” of Sundance will move with the festival, Hernandez said. “We will express it differently in Boulder. Boulder’s a different community, and its audience is different.”
Roe Green Theater (Photo courtesy of Miles Fujimoto)
Hernandez pointed out that Boulder is a different, larger community. Boulder’s cultural and creative ecosystem is a strength that sets it apart.
“Sundance is really tapping into that existing community of arts organizations, nonprofit organizations … and the university population,” Hernandez said. “Everything about Boulder that makes it unique, the music that happens up on the hill or at the Boulder Theater, and the tech growth that’s been happening with the Google campus in town.”
Beyond the screenings, festival leaders expect the event to positively impact Boulder’s hotels, short-term rentals, restaurants, and shops. Pesmen said festival attendees become loyal returners to restaurants and coffee shops, building relationships that could last a decade or more. She encouraged visitors from across Colorado to stay a few nights while attending the event. Lodging options already extend from Denver to Boulder and in the surrounding towns, with short-term rentals coming online.
Hotel Boulderado (Photo courtesy of the Hotel Boulderado)
The most notable difference between the Park City and Boulder events will be the festival’s footprint, which includes hotels and venues. The Boulder footprint will sit within a 2.4-mile radius of the Hotel Boulderado, making the entire festival walkable, a layout more compact than Utah’s, which spanned three locations.
“I always imagine we’re scooping the whole festival into one location now,” Pesmen said, adding that the consolidation “will be incredible for filmmakers and artists.”
Pesmen emphasized that in Boulder, all venues but one (Chautauqua Theater) are within walking distance of each other. Attendees can walk from a screening to a panel and a talk without moving their car. Buses will be made available to all venues.
Chautauqua Auditorium (Photo courtesy of Miles Fujimoto)
“The festival isn’t moving to Boulder. It’s that we’re building a new festival in Boulder,” Hernandez said.
For students, Hernandez said, this means a chance to be part of the festival’s first year in its new home. Additionally, attendance could map a student’s future. Hernandez encouraged students to attend because business connection opportunities can be found waiting in a film line or on a bus to a screening.
Pesmen echoed Hernandez: “You just never know who you’re going to meet.”
This is one of the many opportunities that could follow as a positive outcome that may travel well beyond the compact space Hernandez called the “footprint.”
While Sundance may seem like an industry-only event, Hernandez and Pesmen expressed adamantly that this is a misconception. They emphasized that the event becomes stronger when a variety of people with varying levels of indie cinema experience attend.
“I think it’s a place where we’re going to grow together,” Pesmen said.
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Volunteering Information
To volunteer, be prepared to spend up to 20 minutes filling out the Sundance Film Festival application. The volunteer application is open from August through December.
Volunteer Information Session Sign-Up: Prospective Volunteers
Sundance Application: Volunteer Application
Sundance Website: Sundance Film Festival
Email: Volunteers@sundance.org
Phone: 435.776.7878
History: Sundance Institute
Sundance Legacy: Robert Redford’s Journey
Contact CU Independent Writer Melodie Miller at Melodie.Miller@colorado.edu and CU Independent Arts Editor Addisson Pribble at Addisson.Pribble@colorado.edu.
