Sundance’s New Home Won’t Be Announced Soon: ‘No, Not Yet’

As Sundance readies to kick off its 2025 edition in Park City, Utah on Thursday, one question will surely be on everyone’s lips: So, where are we going to be in two years? As the festival continues to weigh options for possible new host cities — including Cincinnati, Salt Lake City, and Boulder — starting in 2027, everyone is curious where the venerable festival will find itself in just 24 months.

And, yes, Sundance brass are well-aware of the interest in that new home base. At a press event held Wednesday evening in Park City, festival director Eugene Hernandez — who was joined by director of programming Kim Yutani, Sundance Film Festival CEO Amanda Kelso, and senior programmer John Nein — even joked about it, while outlining the current timeline for choosing and announcing a new host city.

“I used to be a journalist,” Hernandez, IndieWire’s own co-founder, said during prepared remarks, “and, of course, I know there is at least one specific, burning question that you probably want to ask me, or that you asked in the other room. And I’m going to tell you the answer to that question, and the answer is, ‘No, not yet.'”

After some big laughs from the assembled group, he continued, “Nearly a year ago, we announced the launch of an RFP process to find a new home for the Sundance Film Festival. Our work continues, and we still have two more years anchored here in Park City. Later this winter or early in the spring, once we complete our work on this RFP, we will announce the new home of the Sundance Film Festival. But before that, we’ll announce the dates for next year’s festival, so for now, let’s dig in, let’s enjoy Sundance 2025 together, here in Park City, and down the mountain in Salt Lake.”

After announcing a group of six finalists back in July, a selection committee within the Sundance Institute conducted site visits of all six locations and settled on the three finalists in September, “based on ethos, equity values, infrastructure, and capabilities to host Sundance, as well as how they hope to foster a community of indie filmmakers in the future.”

This year’s Sundance Film Festival runs January 23 — February 2.