After a yearlong search, the Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its new home will be Boulder, Colorado, keeping Sundance in the mountains but moving it out of Park City, the Utah ski town that had for decades provided the premier independent film gathering its picturesque snowy backdrop.

Organizers said that after 40 years in the mountains, the festival had outgrown Park City, and lacked the necessary theaters or affordable housing to continue hosting what has become one of North America’s most sprawling movie events. Sundance had narrowed down the options to Salt Lake City (with a smaller presence in Park City), Cincinnati and Boulder.

Boulder emerged as their choice due to its close proximity to nature, its small-town charm and an engaged community that, organizer said, provides Sundance the ideal setting for its future.

“Boulder is a tech town, it’s a college town, it’s an arts town, and it’s a mountain town,” Amanda Kelso, acting chief executive of the Sundance Institute, said in an interview Thursday from Boulder. “At 100,000 people, a larger town than Park City, it gives us the space to expand.”

Kelso, Sundance Institute board chair Ebs Burnough and Eugene Hernandez, director of the festival and head of programming, spoke shortly before announcing the festival’s move. Local officials, who helped lure Sundance with $34 million in tax credits over 10 years, applauded the decision.

“Here in our state we celebrate the arts and film industry as a key economic driver, job creator and important contributor to our thriving culture,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis, a Democrat, said in a statement.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, said Thursday that Sundance will come to regret leaving Utah.

“As I’ve said from the beginning, we wanted Sundance to stay,” Cox said in a statement. “We made that clear to their leadership and put together a highly competitive package. Ultimately, this decision is theirs to make, but I believe it’s a mistake and that, one day, they’ll realize they left behind not just a place, but their heritage.”

A change endorsed by Sundance founder Robert Redford

A shift from Park City to Boulder means Sundance stays in the mountains but trades a luxury ski resort enclave for a growing, outdoorsy small city. The mile-high Colorado city set in the foothills of the Rockies also maintains a sense of surrounding nature — something organizers stressed as a major factor in their decision.

Boulder’s four-block pedestrian mall on Pearl Street, with nearby theaters, could provide a similar sense of central hub like Park City’s Main Street. The Macky Auditorium, on the University of Colorado campus, is expected to be a central stage for Sundance.

The Sundance Institute was founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, who sought a location far from Hollywood to foster independent voices in film. In 1984, the institute took over the Sundance Film Festival, but the nonprofit’s mission of helping young filmmakers grow through labs and workshops — Redford’s real passion — continued year-round away from the festival.

The 88-year-old Redford, who attended the University of Colorado in Boulder in his youth, gave the move his blessing.

“Words cannot express the sincere gratitude I have for Park City, the state of Utah, and all those in the Utah community that have helped to build the organization,” Redford said in a statement. “What we’ve created is remarkably special and defining. As change is inevitable, we must always evolve and grow, which has been at the core of our survival.”

How Sundance chose its new home

The festival made “ethos and equity values” one of its criteria, prompting many to wonder how much local politics would influence the choice by Sundance, which emphasizes inclusivity.

With its current contract expiration date looming, the hunt for a new host city began in earnest in April 2024. The initial group of six contenders also included Atlanta, Louisville, Kentucky, and Santa Fe, New Mexico