Atlanta as host city of the largest independent film festival in the United States? Could that idea be transformed from make-believe to reality? Top-ranking city officials seem to think so.
The City of Atlanta has officially submitted its bid, or a Request for Proposal, to the Sundance Institute in hopes of becoming the new home of the annual, storied Sundance Film Festival, beginning in 2027.
With its Park City contract expiring in 2026, the iconic institute founded by Robert Redford announced in April it could be pulling up stakes from the Utah mountain town, opening a bidding process for a potential move to a new U.S. city. Deadline reports the State of Utah plans to bid hard to keep the festival either in Park City or Salt Lake City, but a potential move has been brewing for months, as festival organizers view the expiring contract as a means to remake the Sundance experience in the digital age.
Enter: Y’allywood?
According to a City of Atlanta announcement, ATL’s Sundance pitch is “robust” and illustrates how the festival could plant roots here and grow up alongside the city, the beating heart of what's now the sixth largest metro in the country. Atlanta joined an unspecified number of cities that were invited by Sundance to submit an RFP, following another phase that closed May 1.
Sundance Atlanta
The city has also prepared a slick presentation that emphasizes Atlanta’s TV/film track record, transportation infrastructure, food scene, diversity, thousands of hotel rooms, current film festivals, and 11 small-scale venues for screening flicks along one 2.5-mile route alone, stretching from Plaza Theatre and Variety Playhouse around to King Center in Sweet Auburn.
“Atlanta is where the worlds of film, entertainment, economic development, diversity, and inclusion meet and grow cohesively, together,” Mayor Andre Dickens said in a prepared statement. “We’re ready to show the Sundance Institute that Atlanta is the place where opportunities are endless, and Sundance can continue to shine.”
Sundance Institute reported the festival, typically held over 11 days, drew about 117,000 people in 2020, before events were interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and virtual viewership boosted reported attendance numbers in more recent years. (By comparison, an estimated 150,000 out-of-town visitors came to Atlanta for the city's most recent Super Bowl in 2019.)
To sweeten the pot, the City of Atlanta and its partners, including the Atlanta Convention and Visitors Bureau, have pledged $2 million to support their cause, in addition to “a robust array of concessions and in-kind support to the festival,” per the city announcement.
According to the Salt Lake City Tribune, another contender, Boulder, Colo., has offered a $1.5 million incentive if Sundance would cross borders to its neighboring state. Other cities—including Traverse City, Mich., and San Francisco—have recently dropped out of the Sundance running.
Sundance officials have said they’re aiming to announce their decision near the end of 2024, or early next year, once all bidding cities have been vetted. Which means it’s time, dear people of ATL, for this important question:
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