Sundance is coming, but Boulder’s film scene is already here

When Mateo Ruby was choosing where to study film, Boulder was not the obvious choice.

“When you think Boulder, you don’t really think film,” said Ruby, a recent graduate of the University of Colorado Boulder. “I was thinking California, obviously L.A. or New Mexico; nothing really popped out about Boulder.”

Then he arrived at CU Boulder and found something he had not expected: a motivated student film community, a long-running cinema studies program and more ways to get involved than he realized.

Now, the rest of the country may be going through a similar shift in perception. In March 2025, the Sundance Film Festival announced it would move from Park City, Utah, to Boulder beginning in 2027. The first Colorado edition is scheduled for Jan. 21-31, 2027, with events planned across the city and CU Boulder’s campus.

The move has garnered national attention for Boulder and a whole new wave of enthusiasm from local artists. But local filmmakers, educators and film advocates say Sundance is not creating Boulder’s film scene from scratch.

“Boulder is a creative town; we’re very lucky,” said Bruce Borowsky, the Boulder County film commissioner. “Having something like Sundance come to town, it re-emphasizes that and shows how important the creative industry is to our town.” 

Borowsky, an award-winning filmmaker and photographer, took over leadership of the Boulder County Film Commission in 2022. Since then, he has dedicated his full time to the position, unlike his predecessors, allowing him to immerse himself in the role as he works to develop the local film industry.

“My job is two-fold: one is to bring in lots more video production work into Boulder and Boulder County, so bring in more work and get people jobs,” Borowsky said. “The other thing I feel strongly about doing is building community within members of the creative industry.”

While Borowsky is looking forward to Sundance in Boulder, he wants the attention around Sundance to widen people’s understanding of what already exists in Boulder. 

“There’s just so much going on,” Borowsky said. “There’s lots of work, and it’s exciting to see people’s companies grow and see freelancers busy all the time.”

Colorado’s film and television legacy already includes major figures such as “South Park” co-creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone, who met at CU Boulder. Boulder is also home to long-running film institutions and events, including CU Boulder’s International Film Series, the Boulder International Film Festival and several smaller festivals and regular screenings around town.

The Boulder International Film Festival, known as BIFF, has been one of Boulder’s clearest arguments that the city could sustain a serious film audience long before Sundance entered the conversation. Founded in 2005, the festival has grown into a major local event that attracts more than 25,000 people.

“Everybody is talking about the new kid on the block, and we’re very excited for that coming in January, but let’s not forget what we have right here,” Borowsky said. “It’s a small community in Boulder, and some people don’t really know what BIFF is. They’ve never been to it, even though it’s been going for 22 years.” 

CU Boulder is also preparing for Sundance’s arrival while pointing to its own long history in film. The university’s cinema studies department and International Film Series have been central to Boulder’s film culture for decades.

The International Film Series has been around since 1941. According to Jason Phelps, instructional support manager for the cinema studies department and program manager for the International Film Series, it is considered one of the oldest art-house film series west of the Mississippi River.

“We have been getting more and more support; we have been a program since the ‘70s,” Phelps said. “We only became an official department in 2018, so we’ve been growing a lot since then.”

What has long made Boulder attractive for certain film students is its emphasis on independent filmmaking. CU’s experimental cinema legacy is closely tied to Stan Brakhage, one of the most important figures in 20th-century film and the namesake of the university’s Brakhage Center for Media Arts.

“They (trade schools) are very much focused on the how,” Phelps said. “We’re focused on the why.”

Ruby said he was surprised to find a vibrant film community when he arrived at CU Boulder. But he also found himself wanting a more hands-on experience than he was getting in his film classes, so he switched his major to computer science.

“Maybe make it a little more fun and interactive,” said Ruby of CU’s film program. “It was more about studying films, but maybe throw in something that you can get some hands-on experience with.”

That kind of practical experience is one of the places where Borowsky sees room for Boulder’s film ecosystem to grow.

“We have classes and workshops where people can learn about some of the specifics,” said Borowsky of the Boulder County Film Commission. “It supplements the work the students are doing in the university. Not teaching theory; they’re teaching practical skills that people can go out and use right away.”

The challenge, Borowsky said, is that many students do not know those opportunities exist.

“Where I think the disconnect comes in is with the university, not telling the students about all the stuff going on off campus,” Borowsky said. “These are perfect places for CU Boulder students to come and make these important industry connections.” 

Phelps praised Borowsky’s work as film commissioner but acknowledged that Boulder’s high cost of living and production budget make it difficult for filmmakers to establish long-term careers in the city. Nonetheless, he believes that the Boulder film scene has long required something like the commission to bring filmmakers together.

“The goal is to bring it all together,” Phelps said. “Everyone realizes that there is a big community here; there was no central network to bring everybody together.”

Sundance may help force those worlds closer together. Festival organizers have already begun appearing at Denver and Boulder events ahead of the 2027 festival. Organizers say the goal is to make the festival feel connected to the state.

“Everything we’re building around Sundance Film Festival’s new chapter in Colorado is rooted in community,” said Paula DuPre’ Pesmen, managing director of Festival and Institute Operations, in an email to The Denver Gazette.

That effort will matter because Sundance’s move is not a simple change of venue. After nearly five decades associated with Park City, the festival will need to build new audiences and local relationships in Colorado. Boulder will also need to prove it can absorb the global attention, crowds and industry traffic that come with one of the world’s most influential independent film festivals.

Still, local film advocates say the festival’s choice of Boulder was not random. Sundance cited the city’s creative arts and tech scene, its university community, its venues and its access to the Rocky Mountains as part of the appeal.

“There’s definitely a reason why Sundance picked Boulder,” Phelps said. “I don’t want people to lose sight of this, like, ‘Oh, Sundance is coming. Now CU matters.’ It was not an arbitrary decision. It was done because of what we have to offer.”

Ruby noticed a shift in the local film culture during his time as a student. Even after changing majors, Ruby continued to help his friends with films on occasion, and he notices that the local student film community has grown more active and ambitious.

“I feel like it wasn’t as much like this in my freshman year,” Ruby said, “but now everybody’s making films.”