Boulder Wins Golden Ticket to Sundance

While in Boulder for the contract announcement, Sundance Institute director Ebs Burnough teased involvement across the state during and outside of its 10-day festival through education and other initiatives.

However, longtime local filmmakers and industry experts Trai Cartwright and Kent Youngblood aren’t as wide eyed and optimistic though. They both expressed excitement for the Colorado service industry, especially in Boulder, but were less quick to believe Sundance would bolster a creative economy.

In separate interviews Cartwright and Youngblood each told the story of the state’s once very successful film industry, which includes popular current filmmakers such as Steven Spielberg, Quentin Tarantino, and Christopher Nolan shooting here, and Denver containing multiple year-round operating soundstages. All of this changed in 1992 when anti-LGBTQ amendment 2 was added to the state constitution by a narrow 53% vote in favor. Though the bill was later overturned in the case Romer v. Evans in 1996, the four-year interim during which Colorado was called “the Hate State” drove much film production away, shuttering soundstages and other vital infrastructure.

During an interview with Colorado Public Radio (CPR,) Governor Jared Polis denied political reasoning behind Sundance’s move to the state. However, Colorado’s continuing transformation into a queer destination seemed to help single out Boulder above Sundance’s current home in Park City. Utah recently passed anti-LGBTQ legislation including the banning of Pride flags from state buildings and schools. Plus, a newly signed Colorado bill allotting $34 million in tax credits to Sundance specifically, and around $500,000 to smaller film festivals in the state sweetened the deal.

“There is no silver bullet to increasing film and television jobs and facilities,” says Youngblood. Though he thinks Sundance might “move the needle.”

He wonders, however, if film festivals are still the vital part of film distribution that they have been before.

The main allure of Sundance differs from other festivals in its billing as a film marketplace. Since its founding in 1978, the festival has debuted more works from first time directors than almost any other major festival in the U.S., comprising close to half its lineup yearly. This is meant to offer these select few filmmakers a launchpad for their careers, as studio film buyers are seated among regular audience members, fueling hopes of a distribution deal.