“The Western Code” is a 1932 cowboy film about a saloonkeeper whose life is turned upside down after a Texas Ranger rides into his hometown and begins creating all sorts of a ruckus. Though a flop of a film, and largely forgotten in the Western film canon, “The Western Code” is most often credited as the origin of the eternal phrase, “this town ain’t big enough for the both of us” — a line that has since become synonymous with a duel or confrontation that ends with one victor prevailing.
A similar showdown could soon go down in Boulder as it was recently selected as a finalist in a bid to become the new host of the Sundance Film Festival.
While the possibility of Sundance relocating from Park City, Utah, to Boulder has sparked excitement among local leaders who envision the festival as a catalyst for cultural and economic growth, the prospect has also raised concerns about its impact on the city’s own Boulder International Film Festival.
Is this town big enough for both of them?
Local officials rejoice with a resounding yes, while BIFF’s founders said there are too many question marks right now.
Sundance, internationally prestigious, and the world’s largest independent film festival, is held each January in the bustling ski town just east of Salt Lake City. Co-founded by actor Robert Redford in 1981, the festival is a flagship program of Redford’s nonprofit Sundance Institute — a platform that helps develop independent artists, filmmakers and storytellers.
Despite the festival’s long-standing history in Utah, the Sundance Institute announced in April that it would be searching for a new location to host the festival, beginning in 2027, following the expiration of its current contract with Park City, though Park City is still in the running.
In July, Sundance Institute announced that Boulder had been selected as one of six finalists for the program.
Boulder-born Gov. Jared Polis — Boulder Community Hospital-born, in fact — who spent his formative years in town, fervently supports the bid and expressed his enthusiasm for the possibility.
“This is exciting for my hometown to have the opportunity to host the premier film festival in the world,” Polis said. “There’s really no home better than Colorado for it — it shows our own coming-of-age in culture and film that we are a finalist for really helping to take the Sundance Film Festival to the next level for their future and our future.”
Boulder’s not the only town vying for the prestigious honor.
The six finalists were narrowed from an initial list of 15 candidate cities. The selected finalists — Atlanta, Boulder, Cincinnati, Louisville, Kentucky, Park City/Salt Lake City and Santa Fe, New Mexico — were chosen based on a “thorough evaluation” of “each city’s infrastructure, ethos and equity values, event capabilities to host the festival, and how each finalist could sustainably serve and support the ever-growing Sundance Film Festival community of independent artists and audiences,” according to a Sundance release.
A heavy-hitting coalition of state and local entities assembled to submit a bid on behalf of the state of Colorado and the City of Boulder, including the Boulder Convention and Visitors Bureau (Visit Boulder), the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade, the Colorado Office of Film Television and Media and a regional coalition of partners, including the City of Boulder, the Boulder Chamber, the University of Colorado Boulder and the Stanley Film Center.
According to the release, the winning city could be announced as early as next month.
To intensify speculation that cements Boulder as a top-runner, just up the hill in Estes Park in May, more than 100 budding movie directors gathered at the famed Stanley Hotel for the Sundance Institute’s Directors Lab. For the first time in 40 years, the immersive filmmaking experience workshop left the Sundance Resort in Utah and came to Colorado.
A good fit
In 2024, the Sundance Film Festival remains one of the top festivals for up-and-coming filmmakers to showcase their work and last year it drew 86,824 people to Utah. Sundance screens a wide range of genres, including feature films, documentaries, short films and episodic content that often highlights bold, creative and experimental pieces.
While the festival is a boon for smaller, independent films, it is also a significant event in the wider global film industry, attracting filmmakers, critics and celebrities from around the world. Many films that debut at Sundance achieve critical acclaim, secure distribution deals, and, in the case of the 2021 film “CODA,” receive Academy Awards.
In addition to film screenings, Sundance hosts panel discussions, workshops and events that foster conversations around cinema, culture and the future of visual media. The festival also has a history of celebrating diversity and inclusivity, often spotlighting underrepresented voices in film.
Boulder seems like a natural fit for the Sundance Film Festival. Like Park City, the town has numerous world-class venues for screening films and hosting post-show panels. Venues like the Boulder Theater, Fox Theatre, Macky Auditorium, eTown Hall, Chautauqua Auditorium, Boulder Public Library’s Canyon Theater, Century Theater and the Dairy Arts Center are just a few potential places that could comfortably screen a flick during the festival.
Like Park City, Boulder is an easily accessible, picturesque slice of mountain town that is proximal to a major metropolitan area and an international airport. And, as with Park City, Boulder and Robert Redford go way back — the Academy Award-winning director attended CU Boulder for one year in 1955, and two of his children graduated from the university 30 years later. When he wasn’t hitting the books, he worked as a janitor at The Sink, and though he never officially graduated, he received an honorary degree from the university in 1987, preceded by two of his children, who graduated from CU Boulder in 1985.
Boulder also has a history of iconic filmmakers that stretches beyond South Park creators and University of Colorado Boulder alum Trey Parker and Matt Stone. Stan Brakhage, a giant in 20th-century experimental film, retired as a distinguished professor from CU Boulder after helping to shape the thriving film studies program for more than 20 years. Filmmaker Phil Solomon studied under him.
Boulder is also home to Academy Award-winning environmental films “The Cove” and “Chasing Ice,” and is the headquarters for adventure film company Warren Miller Entertainment, among many others.
Economic benefits
Unlike Park City, there’s a bit more room in Boulder to spread out (although trying to snag a parking spot on Pearl Street on a Saturday doesn’t always give that impression).
“We’re really excited to help make the Sundance Film Festival’s next chapter a success,” Polis said. “That means working with them to make sure we have transit from hotels in Westminster, Broomfield and Denver to Boulder, that we’re able to maximize our capacity for screens as well as hotels in the Boulder area, and make sure that this is a great success — both for our community and for the Sundance Film Festival.”
While logistics to possibly host the festival aren’t completely nailed down, Eve Lieberman, Executive Director of the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade (OEDIT), doesn’t foresee any major challenges when it comes to the festival’s organization.
“I can’t really anticipate any challenges with hosting the Sundance Film Festival,” said Lieberman. “We know it’s really important to have an inclusive festival that’s focused on bringing together artists in the community and engaging diverse audiences, and so we feel that the best place for the festival is in Boulder, and we know that there will be surrounding economic impacts on the Boulder and Denver regions.”
Lieberman added: “We have the capacity — in terms of venues and hotels — and the community thus far has been incredibly excited about bringing in new visitors to add to the vibrant cultural scene already in Boulder and Colorado.”
Should Boulder win the bid for the Sundance Film Festival, the economic benefits would likely be massive. In 2023, the Sundance Film Festival contributed $118 million to Utah’s economy and generated 1,608 jobs for Utah residents, according to Sundance’s 2023 economic impact report.
“The festival will create thousands of jobs for residents in Boulder and the surrounding communities, and tens of millions of dollars in wages,” Lieberman said. “We know that it will help increase visitors from out of state into Boulder and the surrounding regions as well.”
What about BIFF?
But what would Sundance mean for Boulder’s current reigning film festival, the Boulder International Film Festival (BIFF)?
For BIFF co-founder Kathy Beeck, it’s too soon to tell.
“Our initial reaction is concern, certainly, about how that would impact BIFF,” Beeck said. “We definitely have concerns, but, you know, it’s just hard to say. We just don’t know how it will impact BIFF. There’s just a lot of question marks around this whole thing. And a lot of those questions haven’t been answered because Boulder hasn’t been selected.”
Beeck started the Boulder International Film Festival in 2004 alongside her sister, Robin Beeck, who both fell in love with films after working in local movie theaters, including Boulder’s now-defunct Flatirons Theater and Fox Theatre (a movie theater in its younger years).
The Beecks know that Boulder is the perfect town to host a film festival — they’ve already been doing it for two decades. Plus, they are true Boulderites through and through — both graduates of Fairview High and CU Boulder. For 20 years, they’ve been lending their organizational and curatorial prowess to bringing a prominent, internationally acclaimed festival that draws, on average, 25,000 film enthusiasts to the city they call home.
The festival, typically held in late winter, is renowned for showcasing a wide variety of cinema, including local stories told by Colorado-based filmmakers, under-the-radar indie gems and emerging Oscar hopefuls. In recent years, the festival’s Adventure Film Pavilion has become a fan favorite, attracting thousands of outdoor enthusiasts and adrenaline junkies to see the latest and greatest in outdoor adventure film.
Celebrities such as Laura Linney, Alec Baldwin, Blythe Danner and Javier Bardem have graced Boulder’s red carpet, and the festival has hosted many well-attended post-film screenings and panels that feature filmmakers, screenwriters, actors, academic leaders and industry professionals.
Both BIFF and Sundance are similar in a couple of ways: both in their programming, which heavily features independent films (though not identical — BIFF has a special section in its programming for Colorado-based filmmakers, as well as the Adventure Film Pavilion — Sundance has neither of those); and in their timing, both take place in the winter. Sundance is held in late January or early February, and BIFF usually happens in late February or early March.
While nothing has been decided yet, Beeck said that there could be a potential for both BIFF and Sundance to collaborate, or at the very least, coexist.
“We’re certainly open to that, and I think Sundance would be too,” Beeck said. “But again, we just don’t know what that would look like.”
Beeck added: “What is most important to us is that BIFF is able to succeed and to grow, so in any collaboration with Sundance, that’s what we’d be looking for.”
Beeck noted that the 20th anniversary of BIFF, celebrated at the late-February festival this year, has been the most successful festival to date in terms of revenue and attendance, underscoring how far the festival has come since 2004.
“We’re incredibly proud of what we’ve achieved over the past two decades, and grateful for the over 400 volunteers that help us each year, as well as our sponsors, donors, and everyone in our community who have helped get us there,” Beeck said.
‘Enough room for both’
Boulder County Film Commissioner Bruce Borowsky is a shade more optimistic about the fate of BIFF, should Sundance come to Boulder.
“I feel that Boulder is quite capable of hosting two world-class film festivals,” Borowsky said. “I think there’s enough room for both.”
As a longtime filmmaker and former chair of the Boulder Arts Commission, Borowsky has worked with BIFF on numerous occasions. As Boulder County Film Commissioner, he is deeply involved in the region’s film activities and is well-versed in the logistics of hosting major events.
“In my opinion, each festival brings with it its own level of expertise, and I think that if Sundance were to choose Boulder, it would be ideal for the stakeholders to collaborate and find ways for both festivals to succeed in Boulder. That would present the best opportunity for everyone involved,” Borowsky said.
Borowsky said that the prospect of Sundance coming to Boulder is one of the most exciting things to happen during his 34 years of living in Boulder.
“Film is such an amazing medium, and its use is just skyrocketing in the digital age,” Borowsky said. “More and more people are becoming filmmakers and picking up a camera for the first time— teenagers, kids, senior citizens and underserved audiences. It’s huge to have Native filmmakers get opportunities to show their work, to have Black and Brown filmmakers have the ability to show their work — it’s huge and so important. So having two film festivals in Boulder would give us even more opportunities to showcase more diverse work.”
Erin Espelie, associate professor and chair of the Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts department at the University of Colorado, agrees that there’s space for both BIFF and Sundance to cohabitate in Boulder.
“I don’t see the festival as anything that would interfere with any other ongoing arts or culture around,” Espelie said. “I think it could only amplify it, as long as it worked out calendrically — there might need to be a little bit of separation.”
In Boulder County alone, dozens of film festivals take place annually — including the Sans Souci Festival of Dance, Boulder Environmental / Nature / Outdoors Film Festival, Buddhist Arts and Film Festival, Boulder Jewish Film Festival, Dickens Horror Film Festival in Longmont and CU Boulder’s Brakhage Symposium and International Film Series.
And those are just the festivals at the local level. According to Espelie, just because one festival exists, it does not automatically cancel another festival out.
“There are so many different kinds of artists and avenues for exhibiting moving image work,” Espelie said. “I think 10 years ago that might have been a different story, but we’re living in an increasingly image-infused and visually driven world, and having a place for contemplation and consideration of moving image as an art form is incredibly important. I can’t say that there could ever be too much of it,”
In a world where in-person cinema is shrinking, Espelie said that having film festivals and post-festival discussions are more important than ever.
“Cinemas are closing in many parts of the world, and that’s a danger of an increasing online digital culture for engaging with the moving image,” Espelie said. “We certainly have enough space, and more than enough venues in Boulder to keep it alive. We make sure we keep infusing our cinemas with viewers, with the best projectors, the best sound systems and giving space and priority, culturally, for collective viewing rather than individual viewing. To have a place for all of us to come together as a community to watch cinema, and the invaluable post-screening discussions that film festivals provide — I can’t say enough that I think we need more of that. That’s how cinema is meant to be consumed, in community.”
Even Lieberman agrees that Boulder could — and should — host two major film festivals.
“BIFF is a festival that we’ve been proud to support at OEDIT for a long time,” Lieberman said. “It’s an incredible contribution to the creative economy in Boulder, it has held a lot of unique stories from independent filmmakers and it really activates the creative industry and the community in Boulder and the surrounding region. We’re really proud to have historically offered support for the operation and programming and also helped with marketing and social media. So we will continue to help, not only to support BIFF but other film festivals in Colorado.”
Lieberman said that if Boulder were to host the Sundance Film Festival, it will elevate the festivals that already exist.
“It will help create a more vibrant creative economy, and help to tell stories of these artists and engage a more inclusive workforce,” Lieberman said.
