"Film is in our DNA because it was a film house," Cheryl Liguori, CEO of Z2 Entertainment, told Sundance in a July profile of the Boulder Theater. The Art Deco building on 14th Street opened as a movie house in 1936. For decades it has been known for concerts, with acts from Johnny Cash to The Black Keys. This winter it gets a new cinema sound system and a new screen.
That retrofit is a good preview of the whole festival. Sundance's first Boulder edition runs Jan. 21–31, 2027. Most of it will happen in rooms Boulder already uses for school plays, choir concerts, lectures, and the International Film Series. The part residents can act on starts now. Sundance's public pass sale opens Oct. 15, 2026, three months before the first world premiere.
October decides who gets a pass
Sundance splits tickets into two sales seasons, and the first one has already begun. According to the official ticket page, the pass and package dates are:
- Oct. 5: Major Gifts Donor presale opens.
- Oct. 8: Donor Circle presale opens.
- Oct. 13: Membership presale opens.
- Oct. 15: Public pass and package sale opens.
Single tickets follow a separate schedule. Major Gift and Donor Circle presales open Jan. 6, member presales Jan. 7, and the public single-film sale Jan. 8, 2027, at 10 a.m. MT. That leaves less than two weeks between public single-ticket sales and the opening of the festival on Thursday, Jan. 21.
Prices on the ticket page include $925 for the full-festival package, $675 for the 10-ticket encore package, $450 for the second-half package, and $350 for the weekday matinee package. Single-film tickets are $37. For anyone aged 18 to 25 or enrolled as a student at any age, Sundance offers a $275 Ignite package and $15 Ignite single tickets. Ignite single-ticket registration opens Dec. 8.
Living in Boulder does not get you a discount. The research for this post found no ticket program or reserved allotment based on Boulder residency. CU Boulder students get their own program, with discounted tickets, at least two free on-campus screenings, and two student-only panels. The university has said details will come later. Local businesses have a separate route. The Boulder Chamber's Official Friend program advertises a limited number of screening tickets, first come, first served, along with window clings and marketing listings.
Where those passes take you
Sundance describes the festival as packed into roughly a two-mile radius. Inside that radius, the screening list reads like a map of ordinary Boulder buildings. The Daily Camera's September venue survey found that only three of the 11 main screening venues show films on a regular basis.
| Venue | Usual role | Festival work reported |
|---|---|---|
| Boulder Theater | Concert hall, built as a 1936 movie house | New cinema sound system and screen |
| Macky Auditorium, CU Boulder | CU's largest indoor concert hall, finished in 1922 | Dolby Atmos sound, acoustic panels, screen, balcony projection booth, stage ramp, accessible seating |
| Roe Green Theatre, CU Boulder | Theater and dance | Dolby Atmos, new screen, projection hush box, replacement seats with drink holders |
| Muenzinger Auditorium, CU Boulder | 400-seat home of the International Film Series | Wall speaker arrays and new screen, already in use |
| eTown Hall | Live music and radio | Projector, screen, Dolby Atmos sound, 40 new speakers |
| Dairy Arts Center, Boedecker and Gordon Gamm | Arts center | Upgrades to both theaters; main New Frontier venue |
| Chautauqua Auditorium | Summer performance hall | Winterization, to be commissioned by mid-December |
| Boulder High School Auditorium | School auditorium, already a Boulder International Film Festival venue | Screening venue |
| Casey Middle School Auditorium | School auditorium | Accessibility, seating and building-system work |
The official list also includes Cinemark Century Boulder, which Sundance has set aside for press and industry screenings, not the main public circuit. Talks and other programming will run at the Canyon Theater at Boulder Public Library District, Dairy Arts Center, eTown Hall, and Old Main. Old Main, completed in 1876, was CU's first building. CU said in April that it had no Sundance-related upgrades planned for Old Main this year.
The scale explains why so much work is needed. According to the Daily Camera, the three most recent Sundance festivals with published attendance reports averaged 81,712 in-person attendees a year, and the last Utah edition screened 151 projects over 11 days. Sundance is also making the Boulder program bigger, raising each of its four main competition sections to 12 films. The retrofit work around town includes new seats to replace ones from the 1980s, dozens of surround speakers, and stained-glass windows being swapped out so projection beams can pass through cleanly.
What stays after the credits
Most of this equipment stays in place after January. Holden Payne, Sundance's director of technical exhibition, called the move "an opportunity for technical evolution, with targeted upgrades" that will leave several local spaces better equipped long after the festival. Kristin Nolan, Sundance's director of production and operations, said venue owners are adding accessible seating, upgrading restrooms, building stage access for filmmakers, and improving in-theater accessibility equipment "for the 2027 festival and beyond."
Macky's new sound system can switch between Dolby Atmos for film and enhanced sound for concerts, so the symphony and lecture calendar there gets the improvement too. Muenzinger is the clearest example of the upgrades paying off early. Before the renovation, films there were projected onto a curved wall coated with screen paint, and the speakers had to be wheeled into place. The new screen and sound are already in use for the International Film Series, which draws more than 3,000 students and community members to about 60 films each semester. Anyone curious about the new sound can hear it at a Muenzinger screening this fall, without waiting for a Sundance ticket. Roe Green's work was scheduled to wrap in October.
Getting between venues is still a draft
Because the venues are spread around town, January travel follows from that layout. The City of Boulder calls the festival a "park-once experience" and says most venues have no parking of their own. The city's plan relies on the HOP, SKIP and JUMP buses plus a Chautauqua Connector, with transit agencies adding capacity and running more frequent departures on key routes. Park-n-Rides across the Front Range are meant to bring in visitors from outside Boulder. Visit Boulder says the city plans free HOP rides and up to 5,000 shared e-bike passes.
None of that is final yet. The city's own transportation page says details on festival routes, parking, accessibility, and mobility options "will be released in the coming months." The research for this post found no published street-closure list, festival parking restrictions, or shuttle timetable as of early October. For now, anyone who drives past Casey Middle School, Boulder High, or Chautauqua in late January should plan around those buildings without knowing which streets will be affected.
Some rules are already in effect. Ordinance 8751, adopted June 18, 2026, took effect July 18 and created a "Special Festival Event" category in the land use code. It allows food trucks to operate during qualifying festivals. It also permits temporary festival signage, such as banners, wall signs, and projected images, with limits on size and coverage and subject to safety standards. According to the city's code-change page, the ordinance was written with the 2027 festival in mind, and it also covers any similar event that needs a Special Festival Event Permit.
Your own house can join the festival
The city has also created a license that lets residents take part from home. The Festival Lodging Rental License lets eligible property owners, and tenants with the owner's consent, rent out a home, a room, or a secondary space during a city-approved festival. Owners of non-primary residences are eligible too. Rentals are capped at 29 days a year and allowed only during the authorized festival window. The city's license page lists Sundance as the only approved festival and says applications are open. The same page's FAQ says no events have been approved yet, so confirm Sundance's status with the city before you take a booking.
What you pay depends on what you already hold:
- Units with no current rental license: a $190 application fee plus a $25 business-license fee.
- Units with a long-term rental license: a $75 license fee plus a $25 business-license fee.
- Units with a standard short-term rental license: no additional festival license needed.
Visit Boulder has posted a lodging program guide along with restaurant guidance, permitting help, small-business advising, and volunteer links. The Boulder Chamber's Partner Hub, published Sept. 21, matches sponsors with commercial space and local businesses with vendor and activation opportunities. Its partners include Visit Boulder, the Downtown Boulder Partnership, the City of Boulder, the Latino Chamber, and the SBDC. CU Boulder, which Sundance named its official university partner in August, has lined up at least 40 campus events through June 2027 and a volunteer program for 100 students.
Before the first screening, Boulder has several deadlines to meet. Public pass sales open Oct. 15, Ignite single-ticket registration opens Dec. 8, and public single-film sales open Jan. 8. Chautauqua's winterization is due to be commissioned by mid-December. The world premieres run Jan. 21–26, and the awards will be announced Jan. 29. Online screenings run Jan. 28–31 for viewers anywhere in the United States.
If you're an agent with a Boulder closing on the calendar for late January, or a homeowner whose festival rental is turning into a bigger decision about the property, First Alliance Title can help you plan ahead. Our Boulder office and mobile closings can bring the signing table to your clients, so nobody has to find downtown parking during festival week. Place your order early and we'll assign a named escrow team before the crowds arrive.
