Where should the Sundance Film Festival be hosted next?

[iheartthed]

The Sundance Film Festival is looking at a potential move and has identified three locations being considered for the festival's future home:

• Boulder, CO
• Cincinnati, OH
• Salt Lake City/Park City, UT (current home)

Which location should be the next home of the Sundance Festival? The Sundance Institute is evaluating locations based on this criteria:

As part of a thorough evaluation of each potential location, the Sundance Institute assessed each city’s infrastructure, ethos and equity values, event capabilities to host the Festival, and how each finalist could sustainably serve and support the ever-growing Sundance Film Festival community of independent artists and audiences. Each finalist was required to demonstrate how they would welcome and continue to foster the diverse Sundance community and culture of independent creativity that is an integral part of the Institute and Festival experience.

[Steely Dan]

Take a risk, Sundance.

Don't go the safe route.

[AaronPGH]

Born and raised in Ohio.... I truly do not understand Cincinnati on this list. Lovely city, but it's such a curveball. It has always felt like an underdeveloped, more politically backwards Pittsburgh with barely a whiff of counterculture/queer arts. Is there a historical film connection I am missing? I guess you can say the same about staying in Utah, but it is a festival that was born in the Mountain West and has been there since the beginning. I spend part of my year in SLC, and while it's not an incredibly inspiring city either, the counterculture pushback against religious Mormon nuts is very real and omnipresent when you're in the city.

Then again, maybe this is exactly what Cincy needs...

[galleyfox]

Originally Posted by AaronPGH

Born and raised in Ohio.... I truly do not understand Cincinnati on this list. Lovely city, but it's such a curveball. It has always felt like an underdeveloped, more politically backwards Pittsburgh with barely a whiff of counterculture/queer arts. Is there a historical film connection I am missing? I guess you can say the same about staying in Utah, but it is a festival that was born in the Mountain West and has been there since the beginning. I spend part of my year in SLC, and while it's not an incredibly inspiring city either, the counterculture pushback against religious Mormon nuts is very real and omnipresent when you're in the city.

Then again, maybe this is exactly what Cincy needs...

Infrastructure.

They’re clearly looking for a medium sized city with lots of existing theaters in the core downtown with access to nearby hotels and an international airport and experience hosting conventions.

It’s also a day trip for Chicago, Detroit, Indy, Nashville, Columbus, ect which have more than enough interest in film to attend a film festival.

[sopas ej]

It never made sense to me why they hold the Sundance Film Festival in the dead of winter in a snowy mountain town. I had a co-worker who attended it back in 2007 or so and he said it was bitingly cold. Though he enjoyed it.

[MayDay]

I truly do not understand Cincinnati on this list. Lovely city, but it's such a curveball. It has always felt like an underdeveloped, more politically backwards Pittsburgh with barely a whiff of counterculture/queer arts.

Might want to read up on a little bit of Cincinnati's history and role in counterculture/queer arts. If counterculture/queer arts is your vibe, the CAC/Mapplethorpe exhibit is something you should be aware of (and grateful for).

[Crawford]

Obviously Boulder or Park City.

Why would a festival rooted in downhill skiing and alpine delights move to Cincy? Sounds like they just threw in a random city to extract benefits from Park City.

These film festivals are usually place-specific. You can't just move Venice or Cannes to Columbus or Tulsa and expect it to be the same.

[Docere]

Winnipeg.

[AaronPGH]

Originally Posted by MayDay

Might want to read up on a little bit of Cincinnati's history and role in counterculture/queer arts. If counterculture/queer arts is your vibe, the CAC/Mapplethorpe exhibit is something you should be aware of (and grateful for).

Sure, this is a major moment in the culture war censorship battle and something we should be grateful for. It doesn't say anything about what's happening in Cincy right now on a larger scale or as part of the city's overall queer cultural identity.

[Buckeye Native 001]

I'm not sure it should be in Cincinnati (I think it should stay in Utah), but that city and its film commission have bent over backwards recently trying to entice production companies to shoot movies in Cincinnati.

[dktshb]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

It never made sense to me why they hold the Sundance Film Festival in the dead of winter in a snowy mountain town. I had a co-worker who attended it back in 2007 or so and he said it was bitingly cold. Though he enjoyed it.

The whole downhill skiing apre ski culture. Well to do people go to ski towns in the winter. It makes total sense to me.

[dktshb]

Keeping it in Park City makes the most sense. If their going to move it though they should go to another resort mountain town. Aspen or Breckenridge would make more sense than Boulder CO.

[craigs]

Park City.