The top staffer at the Sundance Institute during a stop in Park City on Thursday indicated a desire for the size of the crowds at the Sundance Film Festival in January to approach those the event drew in the years before the pandemic.
Joana Vicente, the CEO, made a rare public appearance at City Hall alongside other Sundance officials for a broad discussion with Mayor Nann Worel and the Park City Council about the future of the festival.
Although the appearance was designed to address long-range plans for the festival, Vicente briefly spoke about the 2024 edition of the top marketplace of independent films in the United States. She said Sundance is designing the festival to draw people to Park City after two years of pandemic-forced online screenings and then the return of the in-person event earlier this year. The online screenings will not begin until a week into the festival, as an example, she said. The 2024 festival is scheduled for Jan. 18-28.
“We’re going to be prioritizing the in-person experience. So, really wanting people to come back and hopefully to the levels of pre-pandemic,” she told the elected officials.
The decision to delay the start of the online screenings is “really giving a reason for people to be here and to not miss out on anything,” Vicente said.
Neither Vicente nor the Park City officials discussed in any detail the prospects of the festival in January reaching attendance levels of the pre-pandemic era, but the comment was notable with Sundance being by a wide margin the largest and most lucrative special event on the community’s calendar. The festival in 2023 — the first held in person since 2020 — drew nearly 87,000 people, and spending was estimated at nearly $126 million, according to an economic report commissioned by Sundance.
The crowd projections will almost certainly influence Sundance and City Hall as they craft plans for January to account for numbers like those during the festivals in the years leading up to the pandemic. The projections will be important as Sundance readies the festival transportation plans and the theater logistics, while the municipal government will use the expectations to craft its own transportation plans as well as the security and public works blueprints.
The Park City business community also will track the crowd projections as staffing levels and inventory are considered. The lodging, restaurant and transportation sectors typically enjoy some of their best numbers of the year during Sundance.
Vicente led a contingent of Sundance officials at the Marsac Building on Thursday to address the mayor and City Council. The discussion was held as Sundance seeks to extend an upcoming spring deadline regarding a renewal of an agreement with City Hall to hold the event in Park City after 2026. Sundance has asked that a March 1 deadline in 2024 be moved to Oct. 1 of that year. The additional time, Sundance said, would allow the organization to complete strategic planning and craft a reimagined vision for the festival and the broader institute.
Vicente said Sundance hopes to “continue the strong partnership that we’ve enjoyed.”
“We’ve grown up with Park City. And we continue to think that nothing, absolutely nothing, replaces the incredible in-person experience. But we’re also understanding, you know, digital, how do we engage with audiences that are younger and maybe can’t come to Park City. So, looking at what the strategy looks like, which is why we just need a bit more time after the festival,” she said.
The elected officials signaled their support for the additional time.
“I’m excited for you guys to do your strategic planning and go through that visioning process and hear what it comes out with. And I hope that it continues to involve Park City far into the future,” City Councilor Becca Gerber said.