Cities across the country have answered the Sundance Film Festival casting call.
The event that has been based in Park City for decades is considering whether to relocate starting with the festival in 2027. There have been media reports throughout the United States about cities interested in hosting Sundance. They range from some of the nation’s largest metropolitan areas like Atlanta and San Francisco to smaller cities like Santa Fe, N.M., and Savannah, Ga., that themselves are considerably more populated than the Park City area. It is not known how many other places submitted information to Sundance.
Some of the cities that have expressed interest in becoming the next Sundance location, according to media reports or public statements, listed alphabetically:
• Atlanta: The Georgia metropolis has a long history of hosting large events, much larger than Sundance, having been the site of Super Bowls, Final Fours and the college football championship game. Plus the Summer Olympics in 1996. The airport in Atlanta is the world’s busiest with Delta Air Lines anchored there. Atlanta is a formidable competitor for any large special event, offering a broad transit system, accommodations at every price range and a diverse list of attractions for travelers, including civil rights sites like Ebenezer Baptist Church as well as the College Football Hall of Fame. The January weather is conducive to a festival like Sundance.
• Buffalo, N.Y.: Sundance-goers would be accustomed to the snowy weather of the western New York metropolitan area even if a lake-effect storm there is a different experience than here. And the temperatures can be bitterly cold in late January. But the Rust Belt location would offer Sundance a dramatically different setting than fast-growing Utah. A film festival like Sundance would likely be seen as a step in reinvigorating, if not reinventing, a part of the community.
Buffalo is a short flight from the major cities along the East Coast and in the Great Lakes region, and it is close to Greater Toronto, itself the location of one of the top film festivals.
And what would the competition be like among the Hollywood studios to rent out the Anchor Bar, where the Buffalo wing was created, during the opening weekend of Sundance?
• Minneapolis: The Minnesota metropolitan area also has a storied history of hosting some of the largest sporting events, including Super Bowls. Like Atlanta, it has a major international airport with a significant Delta Air Lines presence, offering nonstop flights across the nation and a series of international destinations. Minneapolis in January is frigid even with a network of enclosed pedestrian ways designed to keep people indoors as they move about.
And although Sundance-goers may not be ones to wander through the enormous Mall of America, a stop at Prince’s Paisley Park, outside of Minneapolis, could be a draw between screenings.
• San Francisco: One of America’s top tourism destinations, San Francisco offers an extraordinarily diverse experience for travelers. Some may head to the waterfront while others may spend their time wandering through neighborhoods like Haight-Ashbury and Chinatown. San Francisco also has one of the nation’s most vibrant arts scenes, where Sundance could potentially thrive, and there could also ultimately be opportunities to partner the festival with the high-tech industry of the Bay Area.
The airport is consequential nationally and internationally as it serves as a gateway to the Pacific Rim. Prices in San Francisco, though, could become notable, especially if Sundance is attempting to make the festival accessible to a wider swath of film lovers.
• Santa Fe, N.M.: The capital of New Mexico is one of the nation’s most important arts destinations. Santa Fe could ultimately be one of the top competitors to become the future location of Sundance if it leaves Park City. Santa Fe, more than many of the other places, has seemed to be consistently mentioned for 20-plus years whenever it appeared Sundance may relocate. Could Canyon Road, an important arts street, serve a similar role as Main Street in Park City during Sundance? And how may the Hollywood crowd use the historic Santa Fe Plaza?
Santa Fe, though, lacks the airline access of some of the other places interested in Sundance. The local airport is a regional one, while Albuquerque International Sunport is nearly 70 miles away and lacks the nonstop destinations of a larger metropolitan area. Prices in Santa Fe could also become a factor in any affordability discussion.
• Savannah, Ga.: The Southern charm is heavy in the historic coastal city of Savannah. The historic center and the waterfront along the Savannah River attract crowds. It also has an arts scene that can stand against many other communities of its size even if it does not approach the level of some of the competitors for Sundance. The January climate of Savannah may be one of the selling points. Temperatures can reach into the 70s, and there is unlikely to be any snow to complicate matters, meaning the crowds could golf rather than ski as they await the nighttime activities. There could be opportunities to forge a relationship between Sundance and the Savannah College of Art and Design, which houses a well-regarded film program.
The airport serving Savannah and nearby Hilton Head Island in South Carolina, however, is limited in its nonstop routes and, unless flights were added for the festival period, it would be among the more difficult places to reach for people headed to Sundance from Los Angeles.