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PARK CITY — Slamdance film festival organizers, after 30 years in Park City, announced last week that they will be permanently moving their programming to Los Angeles.
The festival, which was started in 1995 by filmmakers whose work was rejected by Sundance Film Festival, has acted as a kind of foil to the Sundance crowd. It was only supposed to last a year but grew into a kind of "anti-festival" running concurrently with Sundance.
"We came along as a reaction to being turned down by Sundance, and we turned it into something very positive," co-founder Peter Baxter said, "not just for filmmakers in Year 1, but for many filmmakers that have come afterwards."
Christopher Nolan showed his directorial debut, "Following," there in 1999. Anthony and Joe Russo, who went on to direct an "Avengers" movie, were discovered by Steven Soderbergh there. Bong Joon Ho and Sean Baker screened movies at Slamdance early in their careers, and the festival grew to become an institution in its own right, an Academy Awards qualifying event.
Despite this past January's record turnout, split between the University of Utah in Salt Lake City and the Yarrow in Park City, and an 18% increase in sales compared to 2023, Baxter said a number of factors led to the decision to pull the plug in Utah.
The Slamdance organization is actually based out of Los Angeles year-round, for starters. The organizers would pack up and travel to Park City during the height of ski season and Sundance tourism to host the festival every year, according to Baxter.
"This decision has been made over many months," Baxter said, and involved the board and supporting community. Unlike Sundance, which is considering all options for future host cities, Slamdance only considered Hollywood, where it currently runs year-round events.
"If we just look at the socioeconomics of it, not just from the point of view of the cost of our festival production but also the cost of attending the festival — whether you're a filmmaker or whether you're an audience member — this has really changed significantly in and around Park City," Baxter said. For a group focusing on fostering emerging talent, the organization was aware that there was, Baxter said, "a number of younger filmmakers and younger audience members that want to take part but just can't because they can't afford to be there."
The next festival, set to run Feb. 20-26, 2025, at venues around Hollywood, will sell passes for $50 (compared to the $125 passes for Utah locals this past year), with some free programing open to the public.
The long-time director of the festival also cited physical accessibility. While the host theaters have been very accommodating, Baxter said, "If we just look at our mountain surroundings, for audience members and the artists we serve, it's just not that accessible. And that's also part of our decision making as well."
While Slamdance has maintained strong relationships with the University of Utah's film school and supporters in Park City, the founder said one thing that didn't influence the decision to move was Sundance's decision to explore the possibility of other host cities. Sundance Film Festival leaders announced last month they plan to explore other cities to host the festival starting in 2027.
"The relationship that we have with Sundance is one of mutual respect," he said. "We are not part obviously of the Sundance business ... but we wish them well."
The organizers have taken advantage of an opening in the festival market, with the Los Angeles Film Festival pulling the plug in 2018. But they will have competition with the upstart Los Angeles Festival of Movies, which had inaugural screenings this past April.
But no matter how far from Utah they expand, Baxter said, "We will not be forgetting our roots."
