CINCINNATI — The Sundance Film Festival has decided it won't be coming to Cincinnati in 2027.
According to an announcement from Film Cincinnati CEO Kristen Schlotman on Thursday, the festival did not choose Cincinnati.
"While Cincinnati was not selected to host the Sundance Film Festival, we are proud of how our city demonstrated its dynamic role within the film industry," Schlotman wrote in a statement. "Our proposal focused on long-term sustainability, growth, equity, accessibility, and aimed to deliver a unique and elevated festival experience — all qualities that mirror the evolving priorities of film festivals worldwide."
Schlotman continued to say the Sundance Film Festival ultimately chose "a more familiar setting."
WCPO's sister station in Salt Lake City reports the festival has chosen to leave Utah after four decades and head to Boulder, Colorado in 2027. Park City will host the festival one final time in 2026 before packing up for good.
Less than one year ago, the Sundance Institute announced it was considering new locations for the festival after its current contract with Park City/Salt Lake City ended in 2026.
Cincinnati was named one of three finalists to host the city in September.
WCPO 9 spoke to Cincinnati Mayor Aftab Pureval Thursday about his reaction to the decision.
"Obviously disappointed, but undeterred and incredibly optimistic about the future of our city," Pureval said. "This is just one more step to ultimately cementing Cincinnati as a world destination, and that's ultimately the vision and goal."
Pureval credited city leaders and said everyone involved did a great job collaborating on the initiative. He also thanks the Sundance Film Festival for its consideration of Cincinnati as a host.
Recently, an article was published by Variety, where some Sundance attendees were worried that Cincinnati couldn't compete with the other host cities. One attendee is quoted as saying, "just nothing seems cool about Cincinnati".
WCPO 9 asked Pureval about his reaction to those comments.
"That's idiotic, I was disgusted by the Variety article," Pureval said.
Pureval also commented on attendees who said they like to ski while attending the festival and that "Cincinnati isn't exactly great for skiing and snowboarding."
"If those kinds of people would rather ski and have a party, that's fine," Pureval said. "But, what we're focused on here is supporting filmmakers, supporting independent artists, supporting, particularly, artists of color. Not through rhetoric, but through real dollars."
Hear more about Mayor Pureval's reaction to the decision in the video below:
Cincinnati City Councilman Seth Walsh also fired back on 'X' about the Variety article, showing some of the big events the Queen City has hosted.
“What’s iconic about Cincinnati?” https://t.co/ySInU4Xn2s pic.twitter.com/CfNwzV3AKZ
— Seth Walsh (@SethTWalsh) March 26, 2025
Pureval said he felt some national media outlets have badmouthed the Queen City. Regardless, he said he was incredibly optimistic about the city's future.
Vernard Fields with the Black Cincinnati Cinema Collective said he was also disappointed in the decision.
"I’m disappointed in that missed opportunity because I really feel that Cincinnati has a whole lot to offer," Fields said.
He still feels Cincinnati's film industry is on the rise, and he said he believes the bid for Sundance put Cincinnati more on the map.
Fields spointed to other local festivals like the OTR Film Festival and the Cindependent Film Festival for examples of how local film-making is growing.
“People are going to look back and think, ‘wait, that was the city we skipped over — maybe we missed out on having a wonderful relationship with Cincinnati,'” Fields said.
From "Little Miss Sunshine" and "CODA" to "American Psycho" and "Fruitvale Station," Sundance Film Festival has shined a light on so many independent filmmakers and their works since its creation in 1978.
The festival accepted proposal requests for cities, assessing each location's infrastructure, ethos and equity values, event-hosting capabilities and ability to support the festival as it grows.
When Cincinnati made the initial list of six cities considered for the festival, Mayor Aftab Pureval told the Sundance Institute that Film Cincinnati, the nonprofit dedicated to cultivating TV and film production in the region, positioned the city to be able to serve as host. City council also passed a motion offering $2.5 million to the festival "to show our commitment."
According to the festival's 2023 economic impact report, the event is projected to bring dozens of new jobs to its new host city and generate at least $120 million annually in economic impact, totaling $1.2 billion over the 10 years the festival would operate here.
Since it started as the Utah/US Film Festival in 1978, Sundance has only been hosted in the Park City/Salt Lake City area. There have been offshoots of the festival in other countries.
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