Michael Casey—film critic for the Boulder Weekly newspaper—shared thoughts via email and phone about the Sundance Film Festival’s announced move to Boulder, Colo. in January 2027. This interview has been edited for length and for clarity.

CW: What has been the overall community response in Boulder to the announcement?
MC:  I’ve spoken with a couple people in the arts community that are miffed that Sundance will get all of the attention and money and box them out, and make housing in an already unattainable city even more so, but it’s all been casual grumbling and not on the record. The business leaders, tourism board, representatives, office of [fill-in-the-blank], etc. are all thrilled and expect this to be a huge boom for the area (surprise, surprise). The [University of Colorado] (particularly those I know in the Cinema Studies department) are pumped, as this might help bring Sundance back to its roots while giving their students a golden opportunity. The Boulder International Film Festival (March) and the Denver Film Festival (November) have all expressed excitement on working with Sundance, though I expect that excitement will wane over the next year as it sets in that Sundance is a well-oiled machine and will probably absorb more than it partners with, but I have nothing but speculation and conjecture to back that up.

CW: One of the reasons frequently given for the move was  that logistically, Boulder was more conducive to absorbing the impact of the festival, and being able to get from venue to venue. As someone who knows Boulder, and has attended Sundance in Park City, how much of an improvement will it be?
MC: This is the part where I get a little confused. Being in Park City, if you’re an able-bodied person, you can walk to venues fairly easily; sure, if there’s weather involved, there’s some slush going on. But you can’t walk from the Boulder Theater to the Dairy Arts Center. Century 16 Theaters are down in one of the malls, and that’s not an easy walk; you’d have to take a bus. It’s not walkable to the Macky Center at the University, where they may hold some of the other screenings. The good news is that there is a pretty substantial public transportation system in place. But in terms of the walkability of this? I don’t see it. There is more parking, and more options in relationship of where people can stay. There are a lot more hotels, especially in the downtown area and around the university.

CW: There has been some suggestion that this move was a done deal months ago, long before the announcement and long before some of the laws passed in Utah's most recent legislative session. Had you heard the same rumblings?
MC: The people that I spoke to, the people who wanted to remain off the record, were saying it was a done deal a lot longer than it was a done deal. What [Colorado Governor Jared] Polis has done is completely eliminate the politics of why this is moving to Boulder. There is no real talk of "we’re going to bring this here because festival-goers will feel safe." That has been completely left out of conversation—somewhat to the chagrin of some people.

CW: Do you think the bottom line of the move was in fact the bottom line, that aside from politics and logistics, it was really all about the financial part of the deal?
MC: I think it might have been money, but if that was the case, I think Cincinnati would have been more of a legitimate candidate. I will say that, partly because of the university, Boulder is a cinematically-adventurous city, with the legacy of [avant-garde cinema pioneer Stan Brakhage, who taught at the University of Colorado]. There are several niche film festivals here. ...  I think the festival was just in need of a reset, and maybe a new venue—a new city, somewhere they can grow bigger—maybe there’s something there.