Outside the Boulder Theater – surrounded by state, city and tourism leaders – Sundance Institute CEO Amanda Kelso proclaimed what made Boulder the nonprofit’s ideal choice to be the future home of the famous independent film festival.

“Boulder is an art town, it’s a tech town, it’s a mountain town and it’s a college town,” Kelso said. “The key word being it’s a town.”

This week, Colorado succeeded in its bid to lure the Sundance Film Festival away from its roots in Utah with a multimillion-dollar package of incentives. After a monthslong competitive process, Boulder was Sundance’s top choice beating out Cincinnati and Park City’s joint bid with Salt Lake City.

It will officially come to Boulder in 2027.

On the day of the announcement, shops on Pearl Street Mall had signs outside their doors reading “Welcome Sundance.” Coffee shops were abuzz with customers asking baristas if they heard the news.

Some residents already began to worry about the parking and traffic issues the festival may cause, though some hope the event can push Boulder to address those longstanding issues faster.

It was a major win for the state, as Gov. Jared Polis said the festival has the potential to bring in $2 billion in economic impact over 10 years as well as put Boulder on the map as a cultural destination.

“We began this process with an open mind, only driven by our mission of serving artists, the independent film community and engaging audiences,” said Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute Board chair, on Thursday. “But there was something about Boulder.”

Meanwhile, Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said he believes Sundance made a “mistake.”

So what was it about Boulder that got the festival to leave Utah? Here’s the main points Sundance leaders brought up:

Hopes of growing the festival

Boulder is a lot larger than Sundance’s current home in Park City, yet still not a big city.

The Utah ski town had a population of about 8,000 people, according to the U.S. Census. Boulder’s population is 12 times bigger with 105,000 residents.

Sundance originally began searching elsewhere as the indie film festival outgrew Park City, where it was founded, due to a lack of theaters to host events and affordable housing options.

Festival organizers said they chose Boulder because it would support Sundance’s growth.

Sundance said the festival in 2027 will be centered around downtown Boulder and the Pearl Street Mall, as well as the University of Colorado Boulder campus.

“People said, ‘Oh, they don’t have enough theaters,” said Colorado Film Commissioner Donald Zuckerman. “Well, we have plenty of theaters.”

The state’s film commissioner said when Sundance leaders visited Boulder, the Colorado bid team highlighted to them how close sites that could host events were to each other and “how everything is really walkable.”

Affordable lodging was a big concern in Park City, as the festival grew more exclusive.

There will be about 5,000 hotel rooms within 10 miles of the host city by the time the festival rolls around in 2027, according to the city’s tourism agency Visit Boulder.

After a quiet five years of no hotel developments, Boulder saw the Moxy Boulder hotel open in University Hills last year, which added 189 rooms to one of the largest commercial corridors in the city that had no hotel before Moxy came.

There’s also another hotel in development in Boulder by the CU campus. The Limelight Boulder Hotel and Conference Center is scheduled to open this year and add more than 200 rooms, in addition to more meeting space to host events.

Another addition would include the St. Julien Hotel and Spa’s expansion plans to build an event center with capacity for 2,500 people and a new 125-room hotel, according to Visit Boulder.

To boost Boulder’s infrastructure ahead of the festival, the tourism agency, which worked on the Sundance bid, said there are discussions to “winterize” the historic Chautauqua Auditorium built in 1898.

“One of the most exciting aspects of this partnership between the Boulder community and the Sundance Film Festival is the opportunity to envision how each can support the other’s evolution — while remaining grounded in the shared values that define both communities,” Visit Boulder CEO Charlene Hoffman said in a statement.

The city’s proximity to Denver will also support needs to accommodate festival goers, as Visit Boulder said there are more than 15,000 hotel rooms within 20 minutes of Boulder.

“When Sundance Film Festival was evaluating the proposals, they looked at room capacity, not just in Boulder, but they looked in Westminster, in Denver and Longmont, the entire area, as well as some of the plans for transit and how to get people to the festival,” Polis said.

“Inspiring” views and supporting the arts

It helps that Boulder is a mountain town.

Sundance became highly associated with winter recreation, as attendees would also hit the slopes during the festival held in January.

About 21 percent of attendees went skiing or snowboarding during the festival in 2024, according to Sundance’s economic impact report conducted by Y2 Analytics.

Cincinnati was the only top contender for Sundance that didn’t have easy access to the winter slopes for festival goers.

Eldora Mountain Resort is the nearest place to ski to Boulder, about a 35-minute drive.

Kelso said Sundance has a long tradition of highlighting natural spaces and letting them be a source of inspiration for artists.

“This location will allow us to preserve the festival experience that attendees know and love, keeping it as a space for independent films to shine and the home of moments where the films can be created,” Kelso said.

Sundance leaders said Boulder’s culture also matched with the festival’s ethos as it’s “rooted in independent thought, artistic exploration, and social impact,” the announcement said.

“The city’s convergence of arts, technology, music, food, entrepreneurship, and education presents unique and exciting programming opportunities for future iterations of the Festival,” Sundance said.

There’s also hope Sundance’s move to Colorado will spur more moviemakers to film in Colorado and push lawmakers to create more competitive incentive packages.

The recent apocalyptic thriller “Elevation,” starring “Captain America” actor Anthony Mackie, was primarily shot in Boulder and Golden, and it provided work for about 75 local background actors.

Boulder-based film producer Paula DuPré Pesmen celebrated the Sundance Festival coming to her hometown.

Pesman is a Grammy and Emmy-award winning filmmaker who’s documentary “Porcelain Wars” was nominated for an Oscar.

Sundance is the “North Star” for moviemakers, she said.

“You almost don’t want to hope that high, it just doesn’t seem real,” Pesmen said. “If you’re so lucky to get that call, everything changes. It’s absolutely an incredible experience for any filmmaker.”

It’s welcome news for local filmmakers to have the festival in their backyard, Pesmen said, and give them an opportunity to be closer to one of the biggest film events in the world.

“I trust in our artistic community and our community overall,” she said, “that we will do our best and nurture and support them in the transition and in the growth.”