The Sundance Film Festival is set to take over at least 15 different venues in Boulder for movie screenings, artist talks and other festival programming next year. On Tuesday, it announced exactly where and when.
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 Chautauqua’s in the midst of a facelift 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 CenterBoulder High School AuditoriumBoulder TheaterCasey Middle School AuditoriumChautauqua AuditoriumCinemark Century BouldereTown HallGordon Gamm Theater — Dairy Arts CenterMacky Auditorium Concert Hall — University of Colorado BoulderMuenzinger Auditorium — University of Colorado BoulderRoe Green Theatre — University of Colorado Boulder
Talks and Festival Programming
Canyon Theater, Boulder Public Library DistrictDairy Arts CentereTown HallOld Main — University of Colorado Boulder