Don Rogers’ April 16 column, “Journalism Matters: Sundance Forgets Its Place,” is less a serious analysis and more a lament for a bygone Park City that no longer meets the moment.
Let’s be clear: Sundance didn’t forget its place — it remembered its purpose.
Park City was a picturesque host, but charm alone can’t support the future of independent film. Infrastructure, inclusion, accessibility and investment matter — and Boulder stepped up where Park City stood still.
What Rogers dismisses as Utah legislators “freaking out over pride flags” is no small footnote. It’s part of a broader and growing hostility toward diverse and inclusive values that lie at the heart of independent storytelling. Sundance didn’t just walk away from a venue. It walked away from a state that made it harder to uphold its core mission. The sense of belonging was long gone.
I lived in Salt Lake City for four years. I looked around, found the state’s culture and climate not welcoming — often oppressive — and, like Sundance, I moved out and on. That experience makes the festival’s decision feel not just understandable, but inevitable.
Boulder offers more than theaters and traffic lights. It offers alignment. It embraces the openness and cultural relevance that the indie film world depends on. Mocking it as “suburbia-meets-frat-row” is lazy and misses the point: Boulder showed up. Park City stalled out.
Sundance didn’t lose its soul. It chose to protect it.
Stephen Norton
Sandusky, Ohio