The Sundance Film Festival’s decision to leave the place where it all started more than 40 years ago leaves Utah with questions.
The festival’s acting CEO said its new home of Boulder “is a place where the Festival can build and flourish.” And Colorado is an eager partner as it looks to economically up the ante on film. Both in the Beehive State and the festival’s new home, there seems to be a consensus among those involved in the bidding process: Utah’s red state politics didn’t help the case for staying put.
“I think that it came down to competitiveness as a main factor. But I don't think that the political side of things was completely ignored,” Democratic Rep. Brianna Titone, Colorado’s sole transgender lawmaker, told KUER. “I talked to people who have been to the festival and had personal accounts spoken to me about how it [Utah] just doesn't feel very welcoming.”
With its commitment to diverse perspectives, Sundance is an inherently political event.
It embraces inclusivity and diversity and even created a workshop for transgender filmmakers. It highlights LGBTQ+ filmmakers, as well as filmmakers of color. The films often break away from cultural norms, too. The festival prides itself on being a space to uplift “original voices, inspire new ideas, and create community around independent storytelling.”
In her statement, Sundance acting CEO Amanda Kelso said the festival is “a catalyst for innovation, creative expression, and the discovery of groundbreaking independent films that inspire and shape the future of storytelling.” She added they ultimately decided Colorado was the best fit to continue their mission.
Titone believes the festival’s values better align with Colorado than Utah or Cincinnati, Ohio, which was the other finalist city. She said Utah and Ohio have been going in “very opposite directions” compared to Colorado, especially as it pertains to LGBTQ+ protections.
“It's not to say that Park City and Salt Lake City, or Cincinnati for that matter, aren’t welcoming and inclusive cities,” she said, “but they reside in states that have been passing laws that are blatantly not welcoming and hostile to groups of people.”
Where Colorado has advanced policies to protect the LGBTQ+ community, Utah has enacted restrictions. Over the last four years, Utah lawmakers have banned the display of pride flags on government property, limited where transgender students can live on state college campuses, passed an anti-DEI law and prohibited transgender people from using the bathroom that aligns with their gender identity inside government-owned buildings. The Legislature also enacted a ban on gender-affirming care for minors.
The policy that drew the most criticism was this year’s flag ban.
Right now, there’s confusion over what exactly it allows. Does it prohibit people from flying a pride flag on Park City’s Main Street because it’s technically government property? Pride flags are prominent at the film festival every year. But it’s a question lawmakers couldn’t agree on.
During a March 6 Senate media availability, some senators said pride flags were OK as long as they weren’t hung from a government building. Senate President Stuart Adams said he'd “defer to any attorney who wants to weigh in on it,” but wouldn’t give his interpretation of the law.
It became a thorn in Utah’s Sundance bid when an anonymous source told the Hollywood trade publication Deadline that the bill was a “terrible look for the state.” Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall shared the worry that it could hinder Utah’s bid. While Gov. Spencer Cox didn’t sign the bill, he allowed it to automatically go into effect.
Ebs Burnough, the Sundance Institute board chair, told The Salt Lake Tribune that conservative politics didn’t play a role in their decision to move to Colorado.
“We’ve been in Utah for 40 years. We are not unaccustomed to the politics,” Burnough said. “We’ve dealt with all manner of politics before, so that’s not something that we’ve ever been afraid of or run away from. And it was not a major part of how we addressed this process.”
When asked, Sundance continues to stand by its stance that politics didn’t influence its pick.
Even with the festival’s apolitical stance, people couldn’t help but wonder. Both Park City and Salt Lake City are blue dots in a red sea. Park City Mayor Nann Worel doesn’t know why Sundance passed on the joint Salt Lake City and Park City bid but acknowledged politics could have inadvertently injected itself into the discussion.
“I think that words matter and the rhetoric that had been coming out of some of our legislators recently weren't helpful,” she said.
As a trans woman, Titone doesn’t feel accepted in Utah. It’s not a place she wants to visit, despite enjoying the nature it has to offer — and she doesn’t think she’s alone. So to her, it makes sense to host an international film festival in an area where people from different backgrounds don’t have to worry about their identity being under attack.
“The people who are presenting these films, the people going there, just want to be able to watch the films, [and] not have to think about, ‘Oh, is this a bathroom that I can go in without possibly being arrested or charged with something?’”
Titone added Utah lost Sundance because of its own doing.
Jennifer Wesselhoff, president and CEO of Visit Park City, said she understands the festival’s curiosity to “see what else is out there” after being in the same place for 40 years. Still, she believes there is a benefit to a progressive festival setting up shop in a conservative state.
A big part of Sundance’s brand, she said, is disruption and providing a platform for diverse voices that change minds and inspire others. Having those displayed in Utah presented an opportunity for residents to be exposed to storytelling they might otherwise not have access to. It made a meaningful difference to Utah’s culture, Wesselhoff said, and that might be lost in Colorado.
“Going to a place like Boulder, that message may be more heard in an echo chamber,” she said. “We felt strongly that they could really help continue to open minds in Utah and continue to be in alignment with their brand of being a disrupter. So we're disappointed that we're going to lose those voices here in Utah.”
Lindsey Nikola, deputy chief of staff in the Salt Lake City mayor's office, feels the same way. The beauty of Sundance, she said, is that it forces people to think and pushes them outside of their comfort zone. That’s the art of storytelling and it motivates society to progress, something that is beneficial in a place like Utah.
“I think that progress that comes from that type of art really languishes in an echo chamber,” Nikola expressed. “There's an opportunity there that doesn't necessarily exist when you're surrounded by people of similar thinking.”
It’s a nice theory on paper, Titone noted, but it’s far from the truth.
While Colorado may look like a blue utopia to outsiders, the Democratic lawmaker said the metro areas, like Denver and Boulder, don’t match much of the rest of the state. The Democrats’ trifecta control of government is also a recent phenomenon as is its blue streak during presidential elections.
“We will have no shortage of varying voices here in Colorado, that I can assure you.”
