Sundance 2027: The First Boulder Festival

January 21 to 31, 2027, the Sundance Film Festival opens in Boulder for the first time, and it is the biggest event this town has ever hosted. If you are organizing the week for a film team or a group of friends who plan their year around premieres, this is the working guide: every date, venue, and ticketing fact below comes from the Festival's own pages, checked and linked so you can re-verify before you spend anything.

This is the 2027 season guide. The evergreen version, with what does not change year to year, lives on our Sundance in Boulder hub page.

The Dates, from the Festival's Own Calendar

Sundance Institute, festival.sundance.org

The 2027 Sundance Film Festival takes place in person in Boulder from Thursday, January 21 through Sunday, January 31, 2027. World premieres run Thursday, January 21 to Tuesday, January 26, when festivalgoers are the first audiences ever to see the new films; encore screenings of the program continue through the Festival's final day. The Festival's annual gala, Celebrating Sundance Institute: The Boulder Debut, is Friday, January 22 from 6:30 to 10:30 p.m. MT at Limelight Boulder. Jury and audience awards are announced Friday, January 29. For anyone staying home, the online program runs Thursday, January 28 through Sunday, January 31, streaming within the United States only, with the Festival's page noting that VPN use is prohibited and detected.

Source: 2027 tickets, passes, and packages, festival.sundance.org; gala details, festival.sundance.org; What to Know About the 2027 Sundance Film Festival, sundance.org

The Venues: Campus, Pearl Street, and a Two-Mile Footprint

Sundance Institute, sundance.org

The Festival's own description of its new footprint: all venues within about a two-mile radius. On the CU Boulder campus sit the Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, Muenzinger Auditorium, the Roe Green Theatre, and Old Main. A short walk away is the Boulder High School Auditorium, and a few blocks beyond, the Pearl Street pedestrian mall with its restaurants and shops. Around the corner from the center of Pearl Street are the Boulder Theater, eTown Hall, and the Canyon Theater at the Boulder Public Library District; a few blocks north is Casey Middle School Auditorium. The Chautauqua Auditorium sits about a mile away at the base of the Flatiron trails, the Dairy Arts Center holds the Boedecker and Gordon Gamm theaters, and Cinemark Century Boulder hosts press and industry screenings. The Festival publishes a footprint map on its site.

Source: 2027 official venues announcement, sundance.org; venue descriptions, sundance.org; Festival footprint map, festival.sundance.org

Passes, Packages, and Tickets

Sundance Institute, festival.sundance.org

The public sale of Festival passes and ticket packages began October 15, 2026, after presales for donors and members earlier that month. Single film tickets go on sale Friday, January 8, 2027 at 10 a.m. MT, with donor and member presales in the days before. The Festival also runs an Ignite program of discounted products for attendees 18 to 25 and enrolled students, with free registration opening December 8, 2026 at 10 a.m. MT. As of mid-October 2026, the Festival's ticketing page already shows some packages sold out, so treat every availability statement there as the live truth and check it directly. We do not quote prices here; the Festival's own page carries current prices and any changes. The full 2027 lineup is announced in December 2026.

Source: 2027 tickets, passes, and packages, festival.sundance.org, checked October 19, 2026

Getting Into Town from Sunshine Canyon

Sunshine Canyon Retreat sits on Sunshine Canyon Drive above town, about fifteen minutes from the Pearl Street Mall, so the downtown venues are close and the campus cluster a few minutes beyond that. Two things to plan rather than improvise. First, it is January: snow on a mountain canyon road changes the drive down, so leave margin on snowy evenings and let the fastest driver in your group take the morning shift. Second, festival week means a full town: parking near the venues and rideshare availability will both be tight, so decide your plan before the week starts, whether that is one car with a rotation of designated drivers, early drop-offs, or building real walking time between downtown venues.

Why a 14-Guest House Works for a Film Team

The house sleeps up to 14 in five bedrooms with four bathrooms and a full kitchen, about 4,100 square feet, and a festival week is exactly the kind of trip that rewards one address. Mornings before the first screening, a kitchen that feeds everyone at once instead of a lobby coffee line. Midday resets between showtimes. A place to leave the layers, since festival week in Boulder means everything from sunny 40s to a proper snow night. And late debriefs on the deck with the winter sky over the canyon after the last screening of the day, which no hotel lobby can offer. One house, one pickup spot, one plan.

Lock In the Week

Boulder has never hosted anything on this scale, and the lodging math for eleven festival days is simple: the town will fill. If the house fits your team, check your dates and book direct on sunshinecanyonretreat.com. And keep the Festival's own pages bookmarked, because December's lineup announcement and January's single ticket sale are the two dates that shape the week.