Louisville is a finalist host to the Sundance Film Festival in coming years.
“Our rich history hosting world-class events, growing film industry, and commitment to sustainability position us as a perfect stage for the Festival’s future,” Mayor Craig Greenberg said in a news release. “We are home to the greatest two minutes in sports and we are ready to host the greatest 10 days in film.”
The announcement comes as the Louisville Gardens are still under renovation to be converted into sound stages for film, television and other productions.
It’s also three years after state lawmakers reinstated Kentucky’s film incentive, which offers tax credits to productions filming in the state.
Sundance, which has become a staple and powerful force in the independent film community, opened Request for Proposal submissions in May.
City and state officials both contributed to Louisville’s bid. Greenberg said the city offered incentives in its proposals, but that his office won’t release those details to the public yet.
“We're still in a competitive process for this. And so that information remains confidential at this point in time, we need to continue to have conversations with the Sundance selection committee,” Greenberg said at a press conference Friday.
Greenberg said he plans to make most if not all the city’s prospal available to the public at the conclusion of the selection process.
He did confirm that the city plans to use venues like The Palace Theater, Brown Theatre, Kentucky Science Center and other venues to host screenings if the festival chooses Louisville.
“The hub of the activity for the Sundance Film Festival would be in the central business district in downtown, but we want to activate our entire city and so there would be locations throughout the city that have exciting places to showcase the wonderful films of the Sundance Film Festival,” Greenberg said.
Greenberg estimated the festival could generate as much as $170 million in economic impact for the city.
“And it would certainly establish Louisville globally as a leader for creative and innovative people in general and in the film industry, in particular,” Greenberg said.
Cleo Battle, CEO of Louisville Tourism, asserted that the city is ready to handle an event as large as Sundance, citing the city’s experience the Kentucky Derby, PGA tournaments and more.
“We have hosted major events down to an art in this city, Louisville, we know how to roll out the red carpet,” Battle said at the press conference. “And I'll tell you it is not just the tourism professionals and the frontline staff. It's this entire community that plays a supporting role in making events in our city feel like they're on center stage.”
Since 1985, the Sundance Film Festival has been held in Park City, Utah. However, the festival’s 13-year contract with the city is set to expire in 2026.
Louisville is one of six cities selected as a finalist. Other potential host cities include:
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Boulder, Colorado
- Cincinnati, Ohio
- Louisville, Kentucky
- Park City/Salt Lake City, Utah
- Santa Fe, New Mexico
“Getting to six finalists was a difficult decision,” Eugene Hernandez, Sundance Festival Director and Director of Public Programming, said in the release. Each of these cities has a vibrant creative ecosystem, either expanding or established, and has enabled creativity to flourish in their cities through their support of the arts. These cities understand our ethos, are aligned with our key values, and have shown us interesting possibilities for partnership with our Festival — for our artists, audiences, and all who want to be a part of the Sundance Film Festival — and that makes us want to see more.”
Park City will host the Sundance in 2025 and 2026.
The Sundance Film Festival leadership is expected to announce their final host city decision by the end of this or early 2025.
Sundance officials said in a news release they will visit finalist cities in the coming weeks to “ further explore the possibilities of hosting the Festival.”
“We are grateful to all the communities who have expressed interest and been a part of the process, and we have valued the opportunity to learn about the uniqueness of each location. We look forward to the site visits in each of the finalist cities,” said Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute Board Chair in a news release.
Sundance officials said they don’t plan to share any more details on the process until a final city is selected to host.
This story has been updated with additional information.
