The Sundance Film Festival announced Thursday that its search for a future home is down to three candidates: Boulder, Colorado; Cincinnati, Ohio; and a combined bid from current hosts Salt Lake City and Park City.

Utah's current contract with festival organizers is set to expire after the 2026 edition. And while Salt Lake/Park City is seen as the heavy favorite to retain the event—which has spent four decades in the Beehive State—Thursday's announcement by Sundance leadership noted "great promise and potential" among all three of the finalist sites.

"Each has shown us the blend of exciting possibilities, values, and logistics needed to produce a vibrant, inviting, and inclusive Festival," festival director Eugene Hernandez said in a prepared statement. "We’re excited for a future Sundance that can discover, support, and inspire artists and audiences for the next forty years.”

A successful bid to retain the festival would not be without change, as negotiations between Utah stakeholders have revolved around Salt Lake taking a more prominent role in future iterations, equal to if not exceeding that of longtime host Park City. Shifting more festival functions to the state capital—with its proximity to the SLC Airport, its breadth of hotel accommodations, its access to robust public transportation and its growing national reputation—are seen as a way to relieve some of the pressures on Park City, which sees its transportation and hospitality offerings effectively overrun each year during the 10-day event.

During a press conference on Thursday, Salt Lake City Mayor Erin Mendenhall noted additional projects—likely to be accelerated by preparations for the 2034 Olympic Winter Games—that will add to the capital's ability to take a leading role, such as the pedestrianization of Main Street, the construction of a Green Loop linear park circling downtown and the development of a sports and entertainment district encompassing the Delta Center and Salt Palace Convention Center.

"Sundance can be embedded in the future of this city in a way that I don't think any of the other candidates can offer," Mendenhall said. "People want to get on the bandwagon. There's a lot of good things that are happening here—plenty of challenges too, but we're taking them in stride as we grow."

Mendenhall described Salt Lake City as "scaling" in its growth. She said the vision for the next 10 years is about setting a course for the next 50 years, and that she looks forward to incorporating private and public partners—and particularly the local technology industry, or "Tech Lake City"—into those plans.

"We're growing this way because this is what Salt Lakers want and deserve," Mendenhall said.

The place for Sundance, Mendenhall said, is in the state of Utah. She said the film festival is part of Utah's identity, and that Utah is part of the festival's identity.

"It's harder to stack the inexperience and the unknown of a new place against what has been a historic relationship," she said.

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival is scheduled to run from January 23 to February 2, with screening and program venues in both Salt Lake County and Summit County. Sundance has not indicated when a final decision will be made for its future location beyond 2026, though a decision is anticipated some time early next year, potentially after the 2025 event concludes.

“We are deeply grateful to all the finalists and appreciate the partnership and ingenuity we found in the three moving forward," Sundance Institute chairperson Ebs Burnough said. "Leaders and locals in each community generously welcomed and inspired us as we explored the potential for our Festival in 2027, and beyond."