It may be awkward. The locals may not be thrilled. There may be a sense of melancholy, but the Sundance Film Festival is returning to Park City for one last edition in January. This morning, the Sundance Institute confirmed the last Utah-set festival for January 22–February 1, 2026.
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In March, Sundance revealed it would be moving the four-decade-old event to Boulder, Colorado, beginning in 2027. The Institute has a contract with the City of Park City through 2026. Speculation arose that, following the Institute’s decision to leave Utah and the recent political theater by the Republican-controlled legislature and governor, the two parties might have found a way to part ways a year earlier. That is not the case.
Celebrating Robert Redford, the founder of Sundance, will be a major focus of this last Park City go-around. He’ll be fitted at the Sundance Film Festival Celebration on Friday, January 23, at Grand Hyatt Deer Valley. The annual event is a fundraiser for independent artists year-round through Sundance Institute labs, grants, and public programming.
The festival promises a full event with 90+ feature premieres and 50+ short films. Comparably, the 2025 edition had 88 feature screenings. Venues include the Eccles Theatre, Holiday Village Cinemas, Library Center Theatre, The Ray Theatre, and Redstone Cinemas, as well as fittingly returning to The Yarrow Theatre. It’s unclear if the Egyptian Theater, with its familiar marquee, will be available, but Main Street will once again be turned into a pedestrian-only walkway for the festival’s first weekend.
For those planning their January travel, the festival highlighted that world premieres will be held from Thursday, January 22, to Tuesday, January 27. Beginning Wednesday, January 28, there will be a “joyful appreciation of 40-plus years of seminal independent cinema that premiered in Park City through special screenings and legacy talks, and events.”
At-home screenings will debut online from Thursday, January 29, to Sunday, February 1, and feature films from the five competition sections, including NEXT. Films from other sections, such as Premieres, may participate in the online option, although few have over the past two festivals.
Press and industry will have online access to the at-home program for the professional community beginning one day earlier on Wednesday, January 28.
The festival audience and jury awards will be handed out on Friday, January 30, at a ceremony at The Ray Theatre.
The 2026 Sundance Film Festival will screen from January 22–February 1, 2026.
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Editor-at-Large Gregory Ellwood is one of the entertainment industry's most respected journalists and critics. Based in Los Angeles, he's the only current awards expert who previously worked on Oscar campaigns at a major movie studio. Over the years, he has written for the LA Times, Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Vox, among others. He also co-founded the entertainment news site HitFix, which spawned a legion of influential Emmy and WGA Award-winning alumni.
