The Sundance Film Festival, a cornerstone of independent cinema, is poised for a significant relocation, sparking a wave of nostalgia and apprehension among its devoted attendees. As this year’s event concluded, a pervasive question echoed through Park City, Utah: “Will you go to the festival when it moves to Boulder?”
For many long-time festivalgoers, the answer is a resounding no. Butch Ward, a Sundance regular since the early 1990s, embodies this sentiment, declaring that he will not follow the festival to its new Colorado home next year.
The media professional from Fort Lauderdale, Florida, views this as the final iteration of Sundance in its authentic form, asserting that “a Sundance outside Utah just isn’t Sundance.” This feeling resonated widely, with some attendees even sporting yellow scarves proclaiming “Our last Sundance 2026” or holding signs dubbing it “the last Sundance.”…