A ‘huge mistake’? Cox says moving film festival would ‘devastate’ Utah, Sundance

Sep 20, 2024, 8:00 AM | Updated: 9:47 am

Signs are posted for the 2024 Sundance Film Festival on Main Street in Park City on Jan 18. Gov. Spencer Cox said he's "optimistic" about Utah's chances to keep the festival beyond 2026. (Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

(Kristin Murphy, Deseret News)

BY CARTER WILLIAMS, KSL.COM.

KSLNewsRadio

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah is still in the running to host the Sundance Film Festival beyond 2026, but it’s also at the highest risk of losing the annual winter event since it started over 40 years ago.

The Sundance Institute announced last week that it has narrowed its feature film festival location options to Salt Lake City/Park City; Boulder, Colorado; and Cincinnati, Ohio. Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said Thursday that he believes the organization should remain in Utah and is confident in the state’s pitch to retain the festival.

“I think it would be a huge mistake … and I think it would hurt Sundance to leave this state and leave the place where their identity is so much a part of the fabric of our state,” he said during his monthly news conference with state reporters.

Sundance officials said in April they had started a process to “explore viable locations in the United States” to host the Sundance Film Festival beginning in 2027, signaling a possible split from Park City. The festival originated as the Utah/United States Film Festival in Salt Lake City 46 years ago before it was moved to Park City, and the Sundance Institute took over in the 1980s.

Read the full story and more from Carter Williams on ksl.com.

Keep reading: Utah will soon have only three drive-in theaters left

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A ‘huge mistake’? Cox says moving film festival would ‘devastate’ Utah, Sundance

Keep reading: Utah will soon have only three drive-in theaters left

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