Sundance Film Festival’s upcoming first edition in Boulder, Colorado, (January 21-31, 2027) will bring expanded competition sections, a new Fipresci Award, and the return of New Frontier after a two-year pause.
In an overview of festival logistics contained in his ’Shape of the Fest Letter’ published on Wednesday, festival director Eugene Hernandez said the number of selections in each of the four central competition categories — U.S. Dramatic, World Cinema Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, and World Cinema Documentary — will increase from 10 to 12 films. Other sections including Premieres, NEXT, Midnight, and Family Matinee will also expand.
The first Colorado edition will include an inaugural International Federation of Film Critics (Fipresci) jury, established by the group to honour the best debut narrative in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition and best debut documentary in the World Cinema Documentary Competition.
Scroll down for full letter
Speaking to Screen Hernandez, who is heading into his fourth festival in charge, said the Fipresci jury and the Academy’s previously-announced rule changes that designate Sundance an Oscar-qualifying festival speak to the festival’s growing international status.
“The greatest area of growth in our submissions process has come from outside the US,” Hernandez said. “So it felt like the right moment to acknowledge and celebrate that, not only with the Academy designation, but in our conversations with Fipresci.”
The festival director added that as a result of the Academy’s rule change, which he welcomed and means that starting this year grand jury winners of the World Cinema dramatic and documentary sections will be eligible for the international feature film Oscar, there had been a corresponding rise in the number of World Cinema submissions. He added, “In fairness we’ve already been seeing growth over the last several years from outside the US.”
International community
Sundance leadership engages year-round with international producers, companies, and sales agents and Hernandez said that based on his conversations he expected more sales agents to attend next January. “We’ve been meeting them in Cannes and continue to have conversations as the team fans out across Europe and Asia and America right now, watching films and meeting with different companies,” he said.
Hernandez continued, “The international attendees are being very strategic about which festivals they consider. We’ve already invited and accepted some films from around the world to our [2027] festival. We’re leaning into those conversations with the kinds of folks and seeing a robust response on the international front.”
The festival head said it felt like the right time to expand the four main competition categories and others, in light of the screening facilities in Boulder. “The upgraded state-of-the-art venues with more seats in a concentrated footprint in Boulder gives us the capacity to expand our programme a bit,” he said. ”It’s something we’ve wanted to do and the venue size and the proximity to each other in Boulder allows us to do that in a mindful way.”
After a two-year pause Sundance is bringing back the experimental section New Frontier, now called New Frontier Flux. In the letter Hernandez said the “dynamic, cutting-edge programme at the intersection of art, cinematic storytelling, and emerging technologies” was returning in 2027 “to activate inside the massive fluctuations of our biodigital realities”.
Which Boulder venues will pop?
A cluster of venues on the University Of Colorado Boulder campus and nearby downtown will fall within a footprint that is approximately two square miles; considerably more compact than in Utah, where screenings stretched out from Park City to Kimball Junction, Salt Lake City and Ogden.
Asked which of the Boulder venues might become the equivalent in prestige to Park City’s storied 1,600-seat Eccles Theatre, Hernandez at first demurred, noting that “Colorado is its own place and Boulder is its own place”.
However he did offer three suggestions: the “iconic, almost like Carnegie Hall” 2,036-capacity Macky Auditorium on the university campus is being upgraded in partnership with Dolby with 240 speakers that will be available year-round; the 1,313-seater Colorado Chautauqua, “an amazing auditorium about a mile from central Boulder at the base of the Flatirons where the hiking trails start”; and Boulder Theater downtown with seating for around 850.
World premieres will screen from January 21- 26 and press and industry screenings take place at the downtown Cinemark Century. Online screenings of the five competition sections including NEXT run from January 28-31. Press and industry will get online access starting January 27.
Travel logistics
There are 30 direct international flights scheduled into Denver International Airport in January and transfers take around 30 minutes into Denver and 45 minutes into Boulder. Hernandez said the festival was “leaning in” to Boulder’s transport infrastructure and there will be free shuttles between screening venues.
He added that submissions were tracking on par with recent years – there were 16,201 submissions overall and 4,255 features for the 2026 edition.
Sundance does not forecast attendance, however staff expect a comparable number to recent Utah editions. In 2025 Sundance Institute reported approximately 85,400 attendees. While that number was roughly 17% up on the previous year, NPR radio affiliate KPCW noted it was down nearly 40% since the 2020 event.
Details on discounted student/young adult passes will be announced in September.
Hernandez’s letter appears in full below:
What to Know About the 2027 Sundance Film Festival
Hello friends!
When I think about the Sundance Film Festival in Boulder, Colorado (January 21–31, 2027), I think about you, our artists, our supporters, industry and audiences, and how excited I am for each of you to discover this beautiful place rooted in community. It’s all happening in less than six months and you’re invited!
Our dreams for the Sundance Film Festival in a new place are rapidly transforming into reality. Yes, a lot is changing, which you can read all about below, but our commitment remains the same as it’s been for more than four decades. We’re upholding the values of our founder, Robert Redford, and building a festival that will introduce artists and their work to new audiences, uplifting the next wave of independent storytelling, and connecting with our passionate global community and the Coloradans joining us in building our festival’s new home.
We hope you will join us in Colorado in January! Below are details to help you plan your journey to Boulder:
Save the Dates
The 2027 Sundance Film Festival will take place January 21–31, in Boulder, Colorado. World premieres will be held Thursday, January 21, to Tuesday, January 26. Festival-goers will be part of the first audiences ever to see brand-new films, episodic projects, and more. Throughout the entire run of the festival additional showings of the 2027 programme will continue until the festival wraps.
Our annual festival gala will take place on Friday, January 22. This event raises vital funds to support independent artists through our year-round programmes.
For those joining us outside of Colorado, anywhere across the country, we’ll again offer at-home online screenings from Thursday, January 28, to Sunday, January 31, offering films in our five competition sections, including NEXT. Films from other sections in our lineup can also choose to participate in the online festival programme for limited audiences. Press and industry will have online access to the at-home program for the professional community beginning one day earlier on Wednesday, January 27.
New State-of-the-Art Venues
Evolving our festival in Boulder includes introducing the Sundance Film Festival to an exciting array of theatres that will delight artists and audiences alike.
In the new festival footprint, our venues are all within about a 2-mile radius. On the University of Colorado Boulder campus, the iconic FMacky Auditorium is adjacent to the historic Old Main, across the quad from the Roe Green Theatre and near Muenzinger Auditorium. A short walk from campus is BHS (Boulder High School), and just a few blocks away is the Pearl Street pedestrian mall filled with restaurants and shops.
From the centre of Pearl Street, the Hotel Boulderado, our festival headquarters, is steps away, and around the corner is the Boulder Theater, near e-Town Hall and the Canyon Theater. Walk a few more blocks north, and find Casey (Casey Middle School). The legendary Chautauqua Auditorium is about a mile away at the base of the Flatiron trails, and there is still more to experience a few minutes away from Pearl Street at Dairy Arts Center and the Cinemark Century (our press and industry screening venue).
With all of this news about our festival’s reimagining in Boulder and beyond, we know you’re eager to learn about where all of these once-in-a-lifetime moments will take place. More films and events mean more venues!
Press & Industry Screenings
In addition to public screenings, starting Thursday, January 21, through Wednesday, January 27,
Cinemark Century will host P&I screenings, with additional repeat P&Is Thursday, January 28, and Friday, January 29. Cinemark Century theatres are located in an open-air mall featuring dining, shopping, entertainment, wellness offerings, and more.
In partnership with the venues, our teams are hard at work to ensure that each screening space will be state-of-the-art, allowing our artists to best present their new works to the world and giving our audiences world-class cinematic experiences. This is so exciting for us because the transformative work being done to prepare our venues for the 2027 Festival is unprecedented. Click here to learn a bit more about each venue and to check out our Festival footprint map.
An Expanded Programme
In this moment when artists are seeking more support, we’re thrilled that Boulder allows us to expand our programme size and connect even more films with Sundance Film Festival audiences.
In 2027, our four central competition categories — U.S. Dramatic, World Cinema Dramatic, U.S. Documentary, and World Cinema Documentary — will grow to 12 films each. Other sections, including Premieres, NEXT, Midnight, Family Matinee, and more, will also expand.
This undercurrent of expansion runs throughout the entire festival. Our Offscreen (formerly known as Beyond Film) programming slate — Cinema Café, The Big Conversation, Power of Story — will be expanding our signature talks and thoughtful events with artists and colleagues to include live podcast recordings and more.
In September, we’ll share more information on fest passes, ticket packages, and single film tickets so you can decide the best way to experience everything the festival has to offer. Passes and packages go on sale in October, and single film tickets in early January. Stay tuned for more details on the ticketing products available as well as the 2027 lineup, which will be announced in December. Be sure to create a Festival account and opt in to receive email communications to get the latest updates.
If you want to get early access to festival passes and packages, become a Sundance Institute Member or donor. Besides sustaining our year-round artist programmes and initiatives, supporters get early access to ticket sales, discounts on merchandise (which you can use to pick up some more 2026 gear right now!), and more.
New Frontier FLUX
For the last two years, New Frontier — our dynamic, cutting-edge programme at the intersection of art, cinematic storytelling, and emerging technologies — has been on pause to evaluate the rapid changes in our media landscape. Determined to stay with our community as we face the uncertainty of our times, New Frontier will return to the 2027 edition of the festival as New Frontier FLUX to activate inside the massive fluctuations of our biodigital realities.
Committed to experimentation and interdisciplinary practice, New Frontier FLUX radically pushes at formal cinematic boundaries to champion and cultivate maverick, independent storytelling. As we plant roots in Boulder, a community that holds a deep, long-standing love of experimentation and exploration, we are excited to have found a home for this courageous section of the festival.
Exciting Additions to Festival Awards
Toward the end of the festival, we honour the projects and artists that have graced our screens for nine days, celebrating their accomplishments and dedication to creating culture-shifting, unique stories. The 2027 Sundance Film Festival jury and audience awards will be announced on Friday, January 29.
For the first time, we’re thrilled to welcome the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI) to the Sundance Film Festival. FIPRESCI will establish their own jury who will select winners for Best Debut Narrative in the World Cinema Dramatic Competition and Best Debut Documentary within the World Cinema Documentary Competition. FIPRESCI will present these awards during our awards ceremony. This partnership is a great way to welcome our international community as we kick off our festival in Boulder.
In addition, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has acknowledged the works of our global filmmakers by making the Sundance Film Festival an Academy Awards–qualifying festival for World Cinema Grand Jury Prize winners, Documentary and Dramatic. Simply, this means that our World Cinema Grand Jury Prize winners will automatically qualify for the upcoming Oscars in the International Feature Film Category. This change is so exciting for all of us at the Institute as it continues to uphold the mission of supporting and highlighting groundbreaking artists from around the globe.
Speaking of Hard Work
Our Festival has a proud history of working with volunteers throughout our venues and programmes, and this year is no different. We will be welcoming over 2,000 volunteers from across the world and around the corner to bring our festival to life. Volunteer applications will open on our website August 31, 2026, for anyone who may want to get involved!
Boulder Is Full of Options
Naturally, the questions we hear most from our festival community are about our transportation and lodging. A new location brings new logistics to learn and new neighborhoods to explore. One of our favorite things about Boulder is how easy it is to get around, whether walking, riding a scooter or e-bike, or taking advantage of the city’s robust local transportation system with bus routes that seamlessly reach all our venues. Regional buses from around the area, including Denver and the airport, connect directly into this Boulder system.
Another thing about our new fest home that I’ve fallen in love with is the sheer convenience for our audiences and artists — from locally owned and award-winning places to eat (over 100 in the heart of Boulder, 400 in the city!), to spots to grab a drink, to shops for last-minute necessities and gifts, there are countless options for how to shape your days in Boulder! Visit Boulder will be providing easily accessible, interactive guides on where to eat by each theater to help attendees make quick decisions between films. From high-quality grab-and-go options to a Michelin-star meal, and everything in between, Boulder has it all!
Wondering where to stay? The Lodging section of our How to Fest guide has information on hotels and short-term rentals in and around Boulder and surrounding areas, as well as info on transportation for those who want to experience more of Colorado by staying in Denver or nearby commutable areas. This site will continue to be updated as more inventory is added throughout the year at lodging.sundance.org.
If you are coming from overseas, good news: There are over 30 direct international flight routes to Denver International Airport in January, including flights from London, Mexico City, Tokyo, Toronto, and more.
There is something magical about experiencing stories with people you don’t know. These experiences bring us together, and being a part of this community creates the memories we take home with us. Our whole team is working hand in hand every day to build the new foundation for our festival with our incredible partners in Boulder.
I can’t wait for us all to kick off this next chapter of the Sundance Film Festival together in Boulder, Colorado, in January, because it wouldn’t be the Sundance Film Festival without you.
Eugene
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