Atlanta a finalist at Sundance Film Festival

Atlanta has been named one of six finalists to be the new home of the Sundance Film Festival.

The Sundance Festival announced a request for proposals for a new city earlier this year. Atlanta officially submitted a request for proposals and entered the race in June. The festival’s nonprofit arm, the Sundance Institute, announced the six finalists in a press release on July 19.

The six finalists are Atlanta, Boulder, Colorado, Cincinnati, Ohio, Louisville, Kentucky, Park City/Salt Lake City, Utah, and Santa Fe, New Mexico. The festival currently takes place in Park City and Salt Lake City and will not move to the new location until 2027.

“For more than 40 years, Sundance has championed, supported, and helped shine a spotlight on independent filmmakers and their work,” Sundance Institute Board Chair Ebs Burnough and Sundance Institute Interim CEO Amanda Kelso said in the statement. “As we carefully consider this important decision for our festival, we believe these six finalists provide us with the best opportunity to not only ensure a sustainable future for our festival, but to build on its legacy while continuing to support the next generation of storytellers and showcase bold new works of art.”

According to the release, the Sundance Institute evaluated each city’s infrastructure, ethics and equity values, event capabilities to host Sundance, and how each finalist could “sustainably serve and support the Sundance Film Festival’s ever-growing community of independent artists and audiences.”

The city of Atlanta launched a website earlier this year explaining why it should host Sundance.

“Atlanta is a diverse and inclusive city of creators, thinkers, artists and storytellers who embrace the core values ​​of the Sundance Film Festival and want to see Atlanta contribute to the legacy of Sundance,” Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said in the statement. “As we move forward in this process, we will continue to shine a spotlight on Atlanta’s unique art, culture and attributes in hopes of earning the opportunity to engage and inspire the next generation of filmmakers and Sundance attendees.”

The Sundance Institute did not say when the new city would be chosen, but previous reports have indicated it could be as early as the end of this year.