LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The 2027 Sundance Film Festival may be held in a new city, but it won't be coming to Louisville.
Event organizers announced three finalists Thursday: Boulder, Colorado, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Cincinnati, Ohio. Cincinnati is about 90 miles from Louisville.
In July, Louisville was announced as one of six finalists to host the iconic 10-day film festival. The event will take place in Park City and Salt Lake City in Utah in 2025 and 2026.
“A giant thanks to the local filmmakers, film advocates, nonprofit leaders, and public officials who served on the host committee and worked incredibly hard throughout this process. Louisville and our committee shined,” Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg said. “It’s disappointing that we came up short this time, but we will continue to work hard, and I remain incredibly optimistic that we will bring more major events and film industry developments to our city.
"We will keep building on this momentum. Louisville greatly appreciates the time the Sundance committee spent with us. We greatly value our strengthened relationship with the Sundance Institute and look forward to exploring future opportunities to host other events in Louisville with Sundance.”
The event would have generated an estimated $170 million in economic impact to the Louisville area.
Gov. Andy Beshear made social media posts Aug. 1 indicating he was part of a welcoming committee for Sundance organizers at Churchill Downs.
More than 100 United States cities expressed interest in hosting the festival.
The Sundance Film Festival began in 1978. It is the largest independent film festival in the U.S., with a combined 423,234 in-person and online attendance in 2023.
Many films that have premiered at the festival went on to win Oscars.
The event takes place in Park City and Salt Lake City each year, but organizers are exploring the possibility of moving the annual festival.
