The parent organization of the Sundance Film Festival this week shared details about the titles appearing at Film on the Rocks, Boulder Creek Fest, and other major events as part of its co-sponsorship with various local programmers.

The movies offer “early opportunities for Colorado audiences to connect with (Sundance’s) legacy of independent storytelling through film, music, and poetry,” Sundance officials said.

“When we decided to move the festival to Colorado we also made the decision to host all of our pre-festival events in partnership with local organizations,” said Eugene Hernandez, festival director and head of public programming at Sundance, in a Thursday email to The Denver Post. “Because we felt like it was not only the right way to show up in partnership and in collaboration with the Colorado community but also it would be an opportunity to get to know the community better, get to know the arts organizations who we met during the search process.”

Sundance officials have spent many days in Colorado over the last couple of years as they scoped out Boulder for the fest’s new home. Hernandez said these summer co-presentations are a natural extension of that research and exploration, and that events will arrive monthly until the festival debuts in January.

“We will continue to create opportunities to engage local audiences in Boulder and throughout Colorado, whether it’s a screening or a talk or a workshop or an opportunity to get to know the audience better,” Hernandez said. “So we’re looking for the right opportunities. It could be a screening, it could be something else.”

Hernandez has been coming to Colorado since his first screening at Telluride Film Festival (“Brokeback Mountain,” which he watched twice in one weekend) and counts SeriesFest and the Denver Film Festival among his favorite events.

He was gratified to be welcomed to Colorado by other festival organizers, he said, including Boulder International Film Festival founders Kathy and Robin Beeck.

“There is already a well-cultivated arts scene here so to be invited in with such warmth, and to contribute to the creative alchemy here — it is really exciting for us,” he said. “We want audiences in Boulder, Denver and across Colorado to join us in person in January and each month as we countdown to the festival.”

Summer screenings for the Sundance co-presentations include “Andrea Gibson: Love Letter from the Afterlife,” a 20th anniversary celebration of “Little Miss Sunshine” in partnership with Denver Film’s Film on the Rocks, “Napoleon Dynamite” at the Boulder Creek Festival, “The Best Summer” at Outside Days, and “BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions” in collaboration with Biennial of the Americas, MATTER and MCA Denver, according to the festival’s new agency of record for Colorado, Bloomerang PR. The agency was launched in January by PR and film-fest veteran Jenny Bloom.

The Sundance Film Festival is the independent movie world’s most important event in the U.S. It’s moving to Boulder from Park City, Utah, after a 42-year run there and is expected to bring tens of thousands of visitors and millions of dollars in tax revenue to town during an otherwise quiet season, state economic development officials have said.

Details for each screening are below.

Boulder Creek Festival: “Napoleon Dynamite”
Screening of the 2004 Sundance Film Festival alumni feature
Saturday, May 23 at The Green in Boulder
Film Start: 7 p.m.

“BLKNWS: Terms & Conditions”
Screening of the 2025 SFF alumni feature
In partnership with Biennial of the Americas, MATTER and MCA Denver
Friday, May 29
Holiday Theater in Denver
Social: 5:30 p.m. | Film Start: 7:00 p.m.

Outside Days: “The Best Summer”
Screening of 2026 SFF alumni feature
Sunday, May 31, 2026
Auraria Campus King Center in Denver
Film Start: 2:00 p.m.

Sundance Film Festival Presents: “Andrea Gibson: Love Letter from the Afterlife”
Featuring the Colorado Symphony, Megan Falley, and special guests Sara Bareilles and Chris Pureka
In association with AEG
Sunday, July 5, 2026
Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison
Doors: 6:30 p.m. | Event Start: 7:30 p.m.

Film on the Rocks: “Little Miss Sunshine”
Screening of 2006 SFF alumni feature
In partnership with Denver Film
Monday, July 13, 2026
Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Morrison
Doors: 6:30 p.m. | Pre-show: 7 p.m. | Film: 8:30 p.m.

For the 2026 schedule of Sundance Film Festival lead-up events, ticketing, and to sign up for the official Colorado email list for updates visit .

The season begins Monday, June 8, with Reiner’s 1987 fantasy-comedy classic “The Princess Bride” and ends Monday, Aug. 10, with 1993’s “Jurassic Park,” according to Denver Film; see the full list below.

The movie series, programmed by the nonprofit that runs the Denver Film Festival, will again feature five films, with $25 tickets per screening (the same price as last year) and $50 for VIP reserved seating near the front of the amphitheater. Group sales are available by contacting boxoffice@denverfilm.org.

Tickets are on sale now for Denver Film members, and to the public starting at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 1, via .

The biggest locally relevant show is the 20th anniversary celebration of “Little Miss Sunshine,” the 2006 indie hit that won Oscars for Best Original Screenplay (by Michael Arndt) and Best Supporting Actor (Alan Arkin). The quirky family dramedy featured a now-iconic soundtrack by Denver’s gypsy-punk-folk-mariachi act DeVotchKa, and having that band play the 20th anniversary seems like a fitting tribute to the title that helped turn DeVotchKa into an international touring force. (It’s also a notable collaboration between Denver Film and the Sundance Film Festival, which makes its Boulder debut in January.)

Gates open at 6:30 p.m. with pre-show entertainment taking the stage at 7 p.m., followed by the film presentation at 8:30 p.m., according to Denver Film. As in recent years, all screenings will be emceed by local comedian and actor Janae Burris. Pre-show entertainment includes musical performances by School of Rock, The Reminders, Wheelchair Sports Camp, DeVotchKa and May Be Fern, as well as a special presentation by paleontologist and National Geographic Explorer Tyler Lyson, Denver Film said.

See full details, including Denver Film synopses and each show’s openers, below.

Film on the Rocks 2026 season

“The Princess Bride”
8:30 p.m. Monday, June 8

“In this enchantingly cracked fairy tale, the beautiful Princess Buttercup and the dashing Westley must overcome staggering odds to find happiness amid six-fingered swordsmen, murderous princes, Sicilians and rodents of unusual size. But even death can’t stop these true lovebirds from triumphing. Featuring a pre-show performance by School of Rock.”

“Sinners”
8 p.m. Monday, June 22

“Trying to leave their troubled lives behind, twin brothers (Michael B. Jordan) return to their hometown to start again, only to discover that an even greater evil is waiting to welcome them back. Featuring a pre-show performance by The Reminders.”

“Little Miss Sunshine” 20th Anniversary
8:30 p.m. Monday, July 13

“Father Richard (Greg Kinnear) is desperately trying to sell his motivational success program… with no success. Meanwhile, “pro-honesty” mom Sheryl (Toni Collette) lends support to her eccentric family, including her depressed brother (Steve Carell), fresh out of the hospital after being jilted by his lover. Then there are the younger Hoovers – the seven-year-old, would-be beauty queen Olive (Abigail Breslin) and Dwayne (Paul Dano), a Nietzsche-reading teen who has taken a vow of silence. Topping off the family is the foul-mouthed grandfather (Alan Arkin), whose outrageous behavior recently got him evicted from his retirement home. When Olive is invited to compete in the “Little Miss Sunshine” pageant in far-off California, the family piles into their rusted-out VW bus to rally behind her – with riotously funny results. Featuring a pre-show opening performance by Wheelchair Sports Camp, followed by headliner DeVotchKa.”

“Bridesmaids” 15th Anniversary
8:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 3

“Annie’s (Kristen Wiig) life is a mess. But when she finds out her lifetime best friend is engaged, she simply must serve as Lillian’s (Maya Rudolph) maid of honor. Though lovelorn and broke,  Annie bluffs her way through the expensive and bizarre rituals. With one chance to get it perfect, she’ll show Lillian and her bridesmaids just how far you’ll go for someone you love. Featuring a pre-show performance by May Be Fern.”

“Jurassic Park”
8:30 p.m. Monday, Aug. 10

“In Steven Spielberg’s massive blockbuster, paleontologists Alan Grant (Sam Neill) and Ellie Sattler (Laura Dern) and mathematician Ian Malcolm (Jeff Goldblum) are among a select group chosen to tour an island theme park populated by dinosaurs created from prehistoric DNA. While the park’s mastermind, billionaire John Hammond (Richard Attenborough), assures everyone that the facility is safe, they find out otherwise when various ferocious predators break free and go on the hunt. Featuring a pre-show presentation by Paleontologist and National Geographic Explorer Tyler Lyson.”

Boulder renters can sublease their apartments on Airbnb, Vrbo, or any other rental app for the Sundance Film Festival when it makes its Colorado debut in January 2027.

The Boulder City Council forward on Thursday that expands the city’s existing Festival Lodging Rental License to include tenant-occupied units and second homes. Thursday’s vote was the second reading and the unanimous approval effectively makes it codified. There will be a third and final reading for the ordinance. Tenants would need a co-sign from the property owner to be granted the license.

The festival rental license is seperate from a standard short-term rental license. The festival license can only be used during a city-approved festival, and 10 days before and nine days after said event. It can only be used up to 29 days per year Sundance’s inaugural year in Boulder will go from January 21-31 next year.

Tonia Pringle, senior project manager with the city, said applications can be submitted as soon as today.

The city is leaning laissez-faire when it comes to the financial specifcs of the license. Revenue splits, rent discounts, damage responsibility, all of that is left to the market to decide.

“Airbnb does not allow for one unit as one price, one as another (in the same building),” Jill Grano, a real estate agent and former Boulder City Council member who is working with the Governor’s office on managing housing for Sundance, said during a public hearing on Thursday. “I do anticipate most will be on Airbnb.”

As of Thursday night, single-night Airbnb rentals in Boulder during Sundance 2027 already exceed $1,000. To stay at a guest house on a property in the Whittier neighborhood from January 21-31 is nearly $13,000.

Grano added that Airbnb tracks specifics such as insurance and landlord/tenant split. She added that landlords tend to receive 10-25% of the cut from Airbnb rentals.

“We hope that Boulder landlords are the same here,” she said.

The council approved short-term festival home rentals in December. As of March 9, the city had received 225 license applications, according to a council memo. Those applications carry a $190 fee, which comes out to about $42,750. The new licenses will have a $75 application fee. Expanding festival license eligibility will bring in more revenue and will help serve the massive influx of visitors that are expected to exceed the city’s hotel capacity.

“Boulder’s new short-term rental rules help ensure the city is well-prepared to host its first-ever Sundance Film Festival, while giving everyday residents a direct way to economically benefit from this influx of visitors,” Nathan Rothman, North America policy director for Airbnb, said in a statement. “We stand ready to support the Boulder community as it gets ready for this exciting moment and encourage other leaders in the region to adopt a similar approach.”

Sundance had more than 85,000 attendees in 2025. A city memo looked at the potential of 90,000 attendees in 2027 and said that “roughly one-third of attendees will travel from out of state.”

The improvements at the nonprofit Sie FilmCenter, an independent, three-screen movie house at 2510 E. Colfax Ave. include new screens, Christie 4K laser projectors, upgraded sound systems, and new “premium seating” in the center’s Clasen Screening Room, according to a statement.

The improvements arrive as several venues in Boulder are busy upgrading their own technology to handle the Sundance Film Festival. It’s set to debut there in January 2027, following a move from its longtime home in Park City, Utah, and will bring tens of thousands of out-of-state visitors and global cultural prestige to the city.

Sundance officials haven’t said where they might hold satellite screenings outside of Boulder, but many attendees are expected to stay in Denver, so The Sie FilmCenter has the potential to host overflow or post-fest screenings.

Denver Film CEO Kevin Smith said the upgrades were done in anticipation of Denver Film’s 50th anniversary in 2027 — and to ensure the Sie remains “the best theatrical movie-going experience in the state.”

“We continue to work closely with the Sundance team and will be partnering on several projects — some of those announcements will begin to roll out in the weeks ahead — but that is not one of them at this time,” Smith said in an email to The Denver Post.

Sundance requires its theaters and venues to have 2K or 4K screening capability, 5.1 Surround Sound, and various software details in place before a film can appear there, on Sundance’s website. The Sie FilmCenter already had that, and Denver Film has in the past partnered with the Sundance Institute, which produces the Sundance Film Festival, and its Sundance Lab to of new, independent titles.

The newly installed Christie 4K laser projectors at the Sie will display ultra-high resolution (4096 x 2160) with added brightness and color accuracy, and high frame rates of up to 120 frames per second. Those will “(eliminate) motion blur … ensuring stunning clarity for both 2D and 3D presentations,” officials said.

The Clasen Screening Room also now includes premium seating with overstuffed chairs, better sightlines, and a more intimate experience for guests, filmmaker conversations, and community events.

“Denver Film is about so much more than movies,” major donor Liane Clasen said in a statement. “It’s also about fostering community by bringing people together socially in a welcoming place for screenings, conversation, festivals and fun.”

The improvements were paid for by several longtime supporters, according to Denver Film, which owns and operates the building. They include Liane and Robert Clasen, the Sie family and its foundation (the theater’s namesake), and Mike Fries, the CEO of Liberty Global.

The Colorado Office of Film, Television and Media also contributed money, as did its umbrella organization, the Office of Economic Development and International Trade, Denver Film officials said.

Welcome to Colorado! We hope you enjoy your stay. And congratulations on your negotiating skills that led Colorado’s state, city and county governments to provide $70 million in relocation incentives when our competition offered $3.5 million (Utah) and $5 million (Ohio).

As we both know, Colorado did not need to hand you millions of tax dollars to relocate here. Apples to apples, Boulder outclassed the competition. Cincinnati has cheaper lodging, but attendance would plummet under grey Ohio winters. Utah could no longer accommodate the festival size in Park City, while the state had become less welcoming to your community.

As the LA Times confirmed, there was no question Sundance would choose Boulder. Ohio and Utah needed to offer tens of millions more than the competition. Colorado did not. We wildly overpaid.

So congratulations on fleecing our state, and the city and the county of Boulder for more than $70 million when the deal could have been closed for $3 million to $5 million!

But circumstances have changed. Colorado has a constitutional amendment called the Taxpayer’s Bill of Rights (TABOR). This limits the amount of revenue the state may retain each year. If revenue exceeds the limit, we must return the surplus to taxpayers. to come to Colorado, we had sufficient surpluses to give you those tax credits instead of refunding the money back to Colorado’s taxpayers without cutting into the general fund.

Since then, our state has suffered a billion-dollar-per-year revenue reduction. We are one of four states that has “rolling conformity” with the federal tax code. When Congress passed H.R. 1 in July 2025, it immediately slashed Colorado’s tax revenue, blasting a billion-dollar hole in our budget.

We are now making difficult choices. Among the worst is slashing Medicaid by hundreds of millions of dollars, hitting our Intellectually and Developmentally Delayed (IDD) community particularly hard. We made promises to that community that we cannot keep.

Even worse, we receive federal matching dollars for every penny we put into the IDD program. When I ran a recent budget amendment to take $742,000 from Colorado’s film office to reappropriate that money to our IDD community, it would have doubled the investment to almost $1.5 million. Unfortunately, this amendment was reversed by claims that the film industry in Colorado would collapse and Sundance would not come to Colorado if those funds were revoked.

It����ap difficult to believe a $742,000 cut could be so catastrophic to a hundred-million-dollar-plus festival. And while your attendees will generate substantial economic activity when they come here, the state cannot retain revenue from sales taxes and income taxes above TABOR limits. Your economic presence will not compensate for the funding loss caused by your millions of dollars in tax credits eating into our spending cap.

I ask, therefore, that you disclaim the $4 million in tax credits to which you may be entitled next year, contingent upon that saved revenue supporting Colorado’s IDD community (which we can double to $8 million with federal matching).

When we are slashing Medicaid provider rates and IDD support by 15% and 40%, asking our new guest to give up 3% to 5% of the lucrative deal struck in better times is not unreasonable. This request is only for years when we do not have TABOR surpluses to cover your credits without impacting the general fund. It is extremely rare that we have no surplus.

When it returns, taking the credits has no impact on our general fund or upon the most vulnerable in our state. I hope that you will choose to be as good a guest as Colorado plans to be a host and share the pain we are experiencing currently which is significantly worse for our most vulnerable. Thanks!

Colorado state Rep. Bob Marshall is a Democrat from Highlands Ranch.

To send a letter to the editor about this article, submit online or check out our guidelines for how to submit by email or mail.

But there are plenty of other film festivals in Colorado, from Oscar-bait showcases and mini-fests to touring, niche and genre-specific events that appeal to outdoor enthusiasts, the LGBTQ community, and horror fans — sometimes all at once.

So if you can only see one Colorado film festival this year, what should it be?

Here are some ideas, with a focus on independent features and documentaries. Most events have opening- or closing-night parties, filmmaker panels, VIP passes and other programming, although not all have schedules, tickets on sale or firm dates yet.

Durango Independent Film Festival

March 4-8: There’s still time to check out this 21st annual event along the Animas River in southwest Colorado, which runs through Sunday, March 8, with screenings that span adventure, music, animation, nature, comedy, shorts, documentaries, Indigenous cinema, narrative features and kid-friendly titles. More details at .

No Man’s Land Film Festival

March 7 in Denver: Expect roughly 25 titles at this 11th annual event that “un-defines” feminine by exploring and creating dialogue around the brilliance and influence of women filmmakers, particularly in the outdoors- and adventure-film categories. “From intimate portraits of resilience to explorations of identity, climate, and adventure — these films showcase the bold creativity of women, genderqueer, and Indigenous storytellers,” organizers wrote. Also expect several U.S. and world premieres.

Colorado Dragon Boat Film Festival

March 20-22 in Denver: The namesake of this Denver Film-produced event gathers colorful boats at Sloans Lake each year for races and partying. This festival offshoot is another wildly entertaining chance to introduce audiences to the diverse, underappreciated world of Asian and Asian American films. The Dragon Boat Race returns Aug. 29-30, but you can start building your schedule for the March film fest now..

Aspen Shortsfest

April 7-11 in Aspen and Carbondale: Think of this competitive, Oscar-qualifying gathering as a Telluride or Sundance just for shorts, where featured and award-winning titles annually get nominated for (and often win) the biggest awards in the industry. This year, the Oscars recognized a pair of 2025 Shortsfest titles (“Jane Austen’s Period Drama” and “Retirement Plan”) as nominees for Best Live Action Short and Best Animated Short (respectively), and you can bet the 2027 Oscars will feature a few from this year’s 35th annual event in Aspen and Carbondale.

Boulder International Film Festival

April 9-12: Founded in 2004 by sisters Kathy and Robin Beeck, this four-day event has been the city’s marquee film festival. But it’s already making room for Sundance, having pushed back this year’s 22nd anniversary event from its usual February/March dates to early April, in anticipation of Sundance’s January 2027 debut. Sundance does not, however, have the CineChef food program (this year celebrating Badass Women Chefs), established Colorado youth screenings and competitions, or tens of thousands of already-loyal, annual Front Range ticket-buyers. Details, tickets and schedule are available at .

ACT Human Rights Film Festival

April 9-12 in Fort Collins: This 11th annual, globally minded festival held at Colorado State University investigates the highs and lows of human dignity, violence and progress in a tightly curated set of always-relevant titles. What to make of the alarming global conflicts now proliferating? The ethics of citizenship? The crackdown of governments on their own people? They’ve got ideas. The schedule should post in the next week or two at .

Castle Rock Film Festival

April 9-12: Joining an already-crowded weekend for film festivals is the fourth annual Castle Rock Film Festival, a nonprofit event that benefits the Castle Rock Artist Alliance (CRAA), specifically its Veterans and First Responders Art Therapy program. Awards, student competitions, and more are in store. Check soon for the schedule.

Grand Mesa Short Film Festival

April 10-11 in Cedaredge: Most film events have their own shorts program, but there are precious few in Colorado that focus only on shorts (see Aspen Shortsfest, above). Now in its fifth year, the Grand Mesa Short Film Festival includes documentary, animation, drama, comedy, and action/adventure stories, along with a kid-appropriate matinee and a spotlight on young filmmakers.

Denver Silent Film Festival

April 10-12: It’s really saying something that this Denver event brings silent films to life in the most visceral, magnetic way, with rare and restored movies that predate the era of talking actors and in-film soundtracks. It’s your only chance to see these in Colorado on the big screen, with live music to boot, and it all takes place at the Sie FilmCenter. How much easier could it be?

5Point Film Flagship Festival

April 21-26 in Carbondale: Not long after Shortsfest is the 19th annual 5Point Film Festival in Carbondale, the flagship of a state-touring event that focuses on “humility, purposes, balance, commitment, respect” and other big-picture ideals while presenting screenings that tackle outdoor adventure and conservation. Sounds very Colorado, no?

Women+Film Festival

April 24-26 in Denver: This small but important festival complements fall’s Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival with more than a dozen features, shorts and documentaries “celebrating female filmmakers behind the camera and stories of women on the screen,” as producer Denver Film said online.

SeriesFest

May 6-10 in Denver: Technically a TV and streaming festival, SeriesFest has grown over its 12 years into one of the most important showcases of non-film and episodic work — much of it ending up on networks and major streaming services just a few weeks or months later. Amid the glitz and industry confabs are fun panels and parties (see the annual Red Rocks concert) that keep it top-of-mind for regular audiences, from true-crime and documentary fans to traditional sitcoms, animated series, pilots and social media experiments.

Telluride Mountainfilm

CinemaQ

May 29-31 in Denver: Denver’s only LGBTQ film festival takes place at the Sie FilmCenter with screenings, panels, discussions and events that highlight “queer voices, vision & visibility with the year’s best films,” according to producer Denver Film. The three-day event’s schedule and tickets will be online April 27.

Ouray International Film Festival

June 18-21: Shorts and features are on tap for this festival not far from Telluride, which caters to filmmakers and audiences with an unpretentious slate of adrenaline-pumping titles. It’s got awards and quasi-celebrity guests, but the real attraction is the mountain scenery and the vibe of progressive, open-minded creativity.

Telluride Film Festival

Aug. 29-Sept. 1: This fest is unapologetically elite and exclusive as it annually debuts up to 30 prestige films and other titles, all surrounded by the world’s biggest directors, stars and critics. It’s not industry; it’s influence and buzz-making and a celebration of movie geekery. And it’s highly unlikely to be affected by Sundance’s Boulder debut, given its wealthy, self-contained audience and setting.

Telluride Horror Show

Oct. 16-18: High and low art are artificial distinctions at this genre celebration, which defines itself not by Telluride’s ski-resort setting but by its passionate fans and expert curation of new and classic horror titles. The 17th iteration this year will include destination-worthy parties and gatherings, along with “an exciting mix of horror, suspense, thriller, dark fantasy & sci-fi and dark comedy in Telluride’s unique theaters, with most of the films having one of their first U.S. showings,” according to its website. Check back this fall for the lineup and tickets.

Aspen Filmfest

September: Marking 47 years, Aspen Film’s feature-length event (they also host Shortsfest) retains its modest footprint from last year, hewing close to the Aspen Isis Theatre. Dates (usually in mid-to-late September) and a schedule have not yet been finalized.

Winter Park Film Festival

Sept. 10-13: If you don’t think of Winter Park as synonymous with film, you’re not alone. But the competitive event in Grand County draws diverse filmmakers, families and film buffs with screenings and special events, including titles that highlight young people, disabled people, action-adventure seekers, and students.

Breck Film Festival

Sept. 17-20 in Breckenridge. With more than 100 films on tap annually, Breck Film Festival has already set its dates for 2026, and there’s sure to be more local and national filmmakers in attendance — 2025’s event included the Colorado-set film “Rebuilding,” starring Josh O’Connor (which was actually shot in Colorado).

Crested Butte Film Festival

Late September: This 16-year-old festival has a surprisingly robust schedule, presenting around 80 films spread across five days that allow attendees and filmmakers to stretch out in every way. Passes and a schedule are not yet available, but check in the fall for more.

Rocky Mountain Women’s Film Festival

Oct. 16-18 in Colorado Springs: The 39th festival returns to Colorado College in Colorado Springs with an international celebration of women filmmakers. This year, the event will have in-person screenings at Colorado College followed by a virtual encore. The full schedule will be available later this year at .

Denver Film Festival

Oct. 22-Nov. 1: The biggest film festival in Colorado may not hold that title much longer, given Sundance’s looming arrival, but it will be fascinating to see how this jam-packed, affordable, multi-venue event plays with Sundance in both programming and audiences. Expect the typically impressive schedule of screenings, parties, panels, themed packages and awards to again be spread across the Sie FilmCenter, Ellie Caulkins Opera House, Denver Botanic Gardens, MCA at the Holiday Theater and other locales.

Go West Film Festival

Nov. 9-14 in Greeley: Not many film events rustle up Western themes these days, even in Colorado, but Go West honors that tradition with titles that confront what it means to live in the West — the good, the bad and the unexpected. “We ride the range of cinema history, from the early years to feature films and documentaries about the modern West,” organizers wrote online. Giddy up!

Ridgway Independent Film Festival

Nov. 13-15: The otherworldly San Juan Mountains play host to this event, which is marking its 12th year of showcasing indie films and filmmakers. Programs often feature fun options such as skygazing trips (it’s really, really dark there at night), an art show and lots of in-person meet-ups alongside the many screenings. Several events are free, too.

Vail Film Festival

Dec. 3-6: This late-season, competitive event is still taking submissions on its website, so a public lineup hasn’t even begun to take shape. But producers already revealed they’ll include a dedicated French Showcase this year, as part of their partnership with the ÉCU-Paris Film Festival (The European Independent Film Festival).

The Colorado debut of the long-running event is scheduled for Jan. 21-31, 2027, according to the Sundance Institute. Venues will include schools, theaters, auditoriums, chain movie theaters, and even a library.

Planning for the 2027 festival has been underway for months, with state, city and private resources flowing toward the fest’s financial stability. Sundance officials were expected to wait until after this year’s final event in Park City, Utah, which ran Jan. 22-Feb. 1, to announce the details for Boulder.

Boulder beat out Utah and Ohio as new host candidates for the festival, with Sundance announcing Boulder as the winner in March 2025 at a press conference outside the Boulder Theater.

The 2027 festival will feature “a wide range of world premieres, compelling conversations, special events, and more,” officials wrote. “… Boulder, Colorado, will be the Sundance Film Festival’s home beginning in 2027 and beyond.”

The locations and scenery provide an “ideal setting for festivalgoers from across the world to come together, revel in art, spark conversation, and create unforgettable memories,” said Eugene Hernandez, director of the festival and Sundance’s public programming. “Boulder offers a renowned creative arts and tech scene, paired with the vibrant CU Boulder students, faculty, and staff.

Details regarding the readiness of the University of Colorado’s venues for the festival’s needs are still in discussion, said school spokesperson Nicole Cousins.

There will be plenty of benefits to CU’s campus in particular, according to Chancellor Justin Schwartz. Those include a higher profile for the school and a chance for students to get insight not just into Sundance’s film programming, but hospitality, security and planning for big events at those campus venues.

It’s a huge opportunity across the board, he said in video comments shared with The Denver Post, adding that CU has been anticipating this announcement for more than two years.

The festival will be highly walkable, festival officials have said. But that’s still to be seen, said Christy O’Flaherty, a member of the Denver Cinema Club. She’s attended every major Colorado film festival, from Telluride to Denver, and plans to attend Sundance. But she wonders how Chautauqua Auditorium, with its open-air sides, will stay heated. And what about the poor sightlines on the floor of the Boulder Theater during seated screenings?

“If somebody’s taller than you and there’s subtitles, you can’t even read them,” said the Westminster resident. “Most of these venues are well equipped, but it’s questionable how walkable it’s going to be, since the campus is nearly a mile uphill from the Pearl Street Mall.”

Chautauqua Auditorium and Boulder Theater spokespeople said they couldn’t discuss details of their venues’ preparations and referred questions to Sundance. However, the 127-year-old that will winterize the venue for year-round performances, including enclosed walls and radiant heat tubing beneath the floors, and will benefit Sundance’s January programming.

Here are the 2027 Sundance Film Festival official venues:

Theaters

Boedecker Theater — Dairy Arts Center
Boulder High School Auditorium
Boulder Theater
Casey Middle School Auditorium
Chautauqua Auditorium
Cinemark Century Boulder
eTown Hall
Gordon Gamm Theater — Dairy Arts Center
Macky Auditorium Concert Hall — University of Colorado Boulder
Muenzinger Auditorium — University of Colorado Boulder
Roe Green Theatre — University of Colorado Boulder

Talks and Festival Programming

Canyon Theater, Boulder Public Library District
Dairy Arts Center
eTown Hall
Old Main — University of Colorado Boulder

“My dad loved this place and its people,” she said of her father, Robert Redford, and the state where, for more than 40 years, the Sundance Institute — with its series of labs for emerging filmmakers — and the festival have shaped the film industry, and to some extent American culture.

Related: Boulder City Council approves $17.3 million incentives package for Sundance

Robert Redford died last September at 89, and his absence, as well as his vision, permeated this installment of the first festival without the Sundance Kid turned Elder Statesman. It����ap hard to decide if it was fitting or a poetic injustice that Redford will not be following the festival to Colorado, a state he knew well, where Sundance will move in January 2027.

Colorado, though, is a state he knew well. Redford had, at one time, wanted to start his film festival in Colorado before heading to Utah. “Even though Bob Redford enjoyed a successful acting and directing career, he was never just content to rest on those laurels. He believed that with space to create and experiment, independent artists were poised to have a tremendous impact,” Ebs Burnough, chair of the board of trustees, told a roomful of film writers and journalists.

“And of course, he was right. To this day, artists who get their start at the Sundance Institute and at the film festival go on to shape storytelling, independent cinema, and our collective culture. And that has never mattered more than it does in this moment, when we need the empathy and inspiration and new perspectives independent storytelling provides,” he added.

Place is a funny thing. The wilderness of Utah, coupled with the intimacy of the ski town, served and shaped the festival well for decades — and vice versa. Now it moves to a new location at the foot of the Flatirons and adjacent to the Rockies. Boulder is beautiful, but as a city, it has a wholly different aura. And it has a university and a tech corridor.

Fortunately, Sundance hired the Boulder-based producer Paula DuPré Pesmen (“The Cove,” “Chasing Ice,” “Porcelain War”) to help envision the transition.

In the meantime, here are four things (there’s plenty more) to know about the globally renowned festival that concludes Sunday and the one headed to Colorado in January 2027.

Colorado represented

Colorado was represented a couple of times this year. “See You When I See You,” a Jay Duplass-directed film, premiered at Sundance. It is based on beloved Denver stand-up Adam Cayton-Holland’s 2018 book, “Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir,“ about grief and his sister’s suicide. It stars David Duchovny, Hope Davis and Cooper Raiff and Kaitlyn Dever as siblings.

Then there was writer-director Ramzi Bashour, who in 2023 was among the cohort of young filmmakers working on their first feature during the Sundance Directors Lab, held at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. His debut feature, “Hot Water” — about a Lebanese mother and her son’s westward road trip — premiered in the U.S. Dramatic competition.

And the band DeVotchKa — with its roots in Colorado — returned to the place that launched them, as the festival celebrated the 20th anniversary of “Little Miss Sunshine.” “Yeah, everybody always says, ‘Man, I can’t believe it’s 20 years that flew by,’” frontman Nick Urata shared on a voice email. “But in this case, I have to say it doesn’t feel like that because that screening at Sundance 20 years ago was literally the first day of the rest of our lives. It was definitely the birth of our career as a band.”

They’d been touring and 21 years ago had self-released the album “How It Ends.” “Luckily, we got some airtime on listener-funded NPR stations, one of them being KCRW in L.A. And one morning they were playing us our song called “You’d Love Me,” he continued. “And Jonathan [Dayton] and Valerie [Faris], the directors, happened to hear it, and it sparked something. They got in touch with us about possibly using our music and doing some of the score for us. That is the coolest part of this whole story. The fact that those songs were released to little fanfare independently, and then it was repackaged along with this beautiful film, and the same exact songs were on the soundtrack album, and it got a Grammy nomination.”

Making young filmmakers household names

The Sundance labs are “a sneak peek at the artists you might see here … in the future,” Redford said in her speech. The next morning proved her prescient. When the Oscar nominations were announced, Sundance was well represented. Writer-director Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” made history with 16 nominations. Nipping at its heels was Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” with 13. Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet” garnered eight.

All three directors developed their first features in the Directors Lab: Coogler with “Fruitvale Station,” which starred his actor muse Michael B. Jordan; Anderson with the film that became “Hard Eight,” Zhao with “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” set on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. And then there’s last year’s mournfully gorgeous meditation on a changing west, “Train Dreams,” which had four nominations, including Best Picture. The Oscar-nominated “Come See Me In the Good Light,” the tear-jerking, laugh-evoking documentary about the late Colorado Poet Laureate, Andrea Gibson, and her wife, the poet Megan Falley, as they faced Gibson’s cancer diagnosis, also won a nomination.

Colorado’s documentary filmmakers rule

Another world premiere was Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell’s “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.” As engaging as it is terrifying, the doc about the reasonable existential dread AI has engendered in some, including director Roher, was produced by Colorado-based filmmaker Shane Boris and multi-hyphenate Ted Tremper (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “The Daily Show.”)

“We did the film with the intention of making a work that would be engaging, that could bring people into this issue,” said Boris. “But, also with like clarifying very complicated topics in a very short amount of time and in a way that gave people a sense of agency in a moment where it feels like everything is just happening to us as opposed to us.”

In his young career, Boris has an Oscar for “Navalny” and two nominations for “Fire of Love” and “The Edge of Democracy.” The movie, which demanded a deft editor, had two: Daysha Broadway and Denver’s own Davis Coombe, a Primetime Emmy winner for Jeff Orlowski’s social-media indictment, “The Social Dilemma.”

In one fell swoop, Colorado became a global film hub

While Sundance will be Colorado’s — heck, the country’s — biggest film fest in 2027, it arrives in a place that already has a rich film festival tradition. Shoutout to XicanIndie Film, Fest Durango Film Festival, Mountain Film, the Dragon Boat Film Festival, Rocky Mountain Women’s Film, the Boulder International Film Festival, the Denver Film Festival, and more. In fact, the Denver Film Festival had one of its best-attended iterations last November and will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary.

Sundance also arrives in Colorado at a time when the state is undergoing changes. Earlier this month, Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade announced the state’s new film commissioner: Lauren
Grimshaw Sloan, whose time at SeriesFest means she knows the ins and outs of festivals. The one-two punch of Sundance and the Telluride Film Festival (over Labor Day weekend) have seemingly made Colorado a global film destination.

At the end of her festival-eve comments, Redford encouraged the gathered. “Let’s make it a great festival celebration, remembrance and hope for all that is possible,” she said.

PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — A man was arrested Friday night at a party during the in Park City, Utah, for allegedly assaulting a Florida congressman.

wrote on X on Saturday that he was punched in the face by a man who told Frost that President Donald Trump was going to deport him. The altercation occurred at a private party hosted by talent agency CAA at the High West Distillery, a popular venue for festival-adjacent events.

“He was heard screaming racist remarks as he drunkenly ran off,” Frost wrote. “The individual was arrested and I am okay.”

Frost, the first Gen Z member of Congress, thanked the venue security and the Park City Police Department for their help. A Park City Police Department representative said officers arrived on the scene just after midnight.

Christian Joel Young, 28, was arrested on charges of aggravated burglary, assaulting an elected official and assault and transported to Summit County Jail, according to court records.

Young appeared to have crashed the party by jumping a fence and had a Sundance Film Festival pass that was not issued in his name, according to the police affidavit.

It was unclear if Young had an attorney who could speak on his behalf. The Associated Press left messages with the Summit County Sheriff’s office and Utah courts in an attempt to request comment from Young or a lawyer.

The Sundance Film Festival representatives released a statement saying that they “strongly condemn” the incident, noting that while it occurred at a non-affiliated event that the behavior is “against our values of upholding a welcoming and inspiring environment for all our attendees.”

“The safety and security of our festival attendees is always our chief concern, and our thoughts are with Congressman Frost and his continued well-being,” the statement read. “We encourage anyone with additional information on this matter to contact the Park City Police Department.”

County Judge Richard Mrazik ordered Young held without bail, on the grounds that he would constitute, “a substantial danger to any other individual or to the community, or is likely to flee the jurisdiction of the court if released on bail.” Young has a prior misdemeanor conviction, according to court records.

Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican, denounced the alleged attack and said he won’t let in places like Minneapolis spill into Utah.

“Political or racially charged violence of any kind is unacceptable in Utah,” Cox said in a statement. “I’m grateful to local law enforcement for swiftly apprehending the assailant and pursuing justice for Rep. Maxwell Frost.”

Federal immigration enforcement efforts are “welcome and necessary,” he added.

wrote on X that he was horrified by what had happened and that “the perpetrator must be aggressively prosecuted.”

“Hate and political violence has no place in our country,” Jeffries continued.

Messages seeking comment were left for representatives for CAA.

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Associated Press writer Hannah Schoenbaum contributed.

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For more coverage of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, visit:

“Come See Me in the Good Light,” a documentary produced in part by former Denverite, actor and writer Tig Notaro, traces Longmont/Boulder poet Gibson’s work and life as they (Gibson used nonbinary pronouns) and their wife navigate Gibson’s 2021 ovarian cancer diagnosis. Gibson died in July at the age of 49.

The film for a 2026 Academy Award for Best Documentary, alongside titles such as Netflix’s “The Perfect Neighbor” and the political-minded “Mr. Nobody Against Putin.” The movie is currently available for streaming, and locals can on ABC on Sunday, March 15, to find out how it fares.

Last year’s Oscars featured an arguably all-time best Colorado contingent, with Best Picture, Best Director and Best Animated Feature nominees all led by Colorado natives. There were also Best Documentary nominations for the Boulder-produced film “Porcelain War,” and the Denver-driven sweatshop story “Anuja.”

Despite the raft of nominations, only “The Brutalist” director Brady Corbet could claim wins — in this case for star Adrien Brody winning Best Actor, and other awards for Best Original Score and Best Cinematography for “The Brutalist.”

The Sundance Film Festival, which runs Jan. 22 to Feb. 1, also kicked off this week in Park City, Utah, with filmmakers and producers hunting for theatrical and streaming distribution for nearly 100 titles.

Among the buzziest is the narrative feature which is based on Denver comedian and writer Adam Cayton-Holland’s 2018 memoir “Tragedy + Time.” It delved into the 2012 suicide of his younger sister Lydia Cayton-Holland and the emotional and psychological aftermath. named it to its 22 Most Anticipated Films at Sundance list, noting “If anyone can pull this off without turning it into quirky indie grief-porn, it����ap (Jay) Duplass.”

Directed by Duplass and written by Cayton-Holland, it stars Cooper Raiff, David Duchovny, Kaitlyn Dever, Hope Davis, Lucy Boynton and Ariela Barer. The film has its coveted Sundance premiere on Jan. 27 and screens through Feb. 1 at the fest, according to an online .

Along with his Grawlix comedy-trio mates Andrew Orvedahl and Ben Roy, Cayton-Holland co-created and co-starred in the Denver-based sitcom “Those Who Can’t,” which ran on truTV for three seasons.

Cayton-Holland was not immediately available for comment.