BOULDER, Colo. — The Sundance Film Festival begins Thursday, marking its final year in Park City, Utah before relocating to Boulder. Colorado’s film industry hopes the move will spotlight the state’s rich movie history and give local filmmakers new opportunities.
Clark Farmer, a teaching assistant professor of cinema studies at CU Boulder, described Colorado as historically “hit or miss” for feature film production. While some Westerns were shot in the state, like “The Naked Spur” starring Jimmy Stewart and the 1969 version of “True Grit” with John Wayne, most films opted for other locations.
“There wasn’t a reason for people to travel to Colorado to shoot a film. You can just go into parts of California or the back lot of the studios and shoot a Western,” Farmer said. “New Mexico is [also] still the place where a lot of people shoot, say, a Western. They have a range of geographical features. You can quickly go up into mountains, but they also have deserts.”…