Sundance Skipped the Locals Package for Boulder. Here's the Residents' Route In.

At the 2026 festival in Utah, a Park City local could buy a 10-ticket Locals Ticket Package for $675, while everyone else paid $920 for the general full-festival package. Boulder hosts the 2027 Sundance Film Festival from January 21 to 31, and a Boulder address gets no discount at all.

What residents can still use is the calendar. Over the next ten weeks, three dates decide who gets a seat. Add the free programming that needs no ticket and buses that cost nothing to ride, and the festival is still very reachable for someone who lives a few blocks from the Boulder Theater.

The Discount Utah Had and Boulder Doesn't

Jeff Levine, Sundance's head of audience development and experience, told the Daily Camera that no pass or package is reserved for Boulder or Colorado residents. Instead, Sundance built three 2027 packages "with locals in mind" that anyone can buy.

• Matinee Ticket Package, $350: 10 screenings that start before 5 p.m., January 25 to 29
• Second Half Ticket Package, $450: 10 screenings, January 27 to 31
• Encore Ticket Package, $675: 10 screenings, but no film's first public screening

Public package sales opened October 15 at 10 a.m. Donors got in on October 5 and members on October 13. As of late October, the festival's ticket page showed all three of those packages sold out, along with the $275 Ignite package for 18-to-25-year-olds and enrolled students. In other words, the closest thing to a locals' rate went to whoever bought first, from anywhere.

What $925 Buys Over Ten $37 Tickets

The one in-person package still showing an Add to Cart button in late October was the Full Festival Ticket Package. It costs $925 for 10 screenings across all 11 days. Single tickets go on sale January 8 at $37 each, fees included, so ten of them would cost $370.

That leaves a $555 gap, and two things fill it. Package holders choose their screenings on January 7, a day before single tickets go on sale. They can also change a selection up to four hours before a screening starts. The head start gives priority, not a guaranteed seat, and nobody knows the film schedule yet. Sundance announces the lineup in December, so every package bought this fall is a bet placed before the films are known.

Levine recommends single tickets for casual moviegoers, with one exception the Daily Camera reported:

"So, say if you wanted to see two films with four friends, you could buy a ticket package and apply five tickets to each screening."

For a household planning one big night out with neighbors, the math looks different. If the group would split ten tickets anyway, the extra cost buys first pick of seats before Sundance's opening-week premieres go to the January 8 crowd.

The Dates That Replace Residency

Here are the key dates in order, starting from the week this post publishes:

1. December: Sundance releases its film lineup and screening times.
2. Tuesday, December 8, 10 a.m. MT: Free Ignite registration opens. Anyone aged 18 to 25 and enrolled students of any age must register to buy the $15 Ignite single tickets. Supplies are limited.
3. Thursday, January 7: Package holders choose their screenings, and Levine "strongly" recommends they assign every ticket that day. Members also get single-ticket presale access on January 7, a day after donors on January 6.
4. Friday, January 8, 10 a.m. MT: Public single tickets go on sale at $37, and Ignite singles at $15.
5. January 21 to 31: The in-person festival runs, with online screenings January 28 to 31.

The January 8 buyer picks from whatever package holders left the day before. Levine told the Daily Camera that more tickets can appear on the site as package holders swap selections. Package holders can also save an unassigned ticket to join the waitlist line for a full screening, though a waitlist spot doesn't guarantee a seat. So a sold-out screening on January 8 may not stay sold out until the day it plays.

CU Boulder students have a separate route. According to the Daily Camera, the university's agreement with Sundance promises at least two free on-campus screenings, plus student-only panels. Those had not been scheduled as of early October.

Free Seats With No Ticket at All

The most resident-friendly part of the festival costs nothing. Levine told the Daily Camera that most offscreen talks and conversations will be free, seated first come, first served. Some New Frontier programs, which cover art, film and emerging technology, will be free too, and sponsors and partners are planning their own free events. The full schedule and entry details will come out closer to January.

Talks and programming are listed for four sites, two of which also host screenings:

• Canyon Theater at Boulder Public Library, 1001 Arapahoe Ave.
• Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut St.
• eTown Hall, 1535 Spruce St.
• Old Main on the CU campus, 1600 Pleasant St.

With first-come seating, the advantage goes to whoever can get to the door quickly. Someone who walks to the main library or rides a bike over to Walnut Street can show up early in a way a visitor staying at a Front Range park-and-ride can't.

Eleven Screens Within About Two Miles

Every one of the 11 announced screening theaters is in Boulder. None is in Denver. Several are rooms Boulder residents already know from concerts, graduations and school plays.

According to Sundance, Cinemark Century will host press and industry screenings in addition to public screenings, with press and industry showings running January 21 to 27 and repeats on January 28 and 29. Several familiar rooms are being upgraded. Boulder Theater operator Z2 Entertainment is installing a cinema screen and sound system. Macky and Roe Green are getting new film sound, projection and accessibility equipment. eTown Hall is adding a Dolby Atmos system with 40 speakers and six amplifiers. Chautauqua Auditorium, a summer venue, is being winterized with insulation, radiant floors and removable insulated wall panels. Dairy Arts Center director Melissa Fathman told the Daily Camera that her staff is working out how to serve popcorn and drinks to 15,000 people.

Sundance named The Rink at 1722 14th St. as its festival headquarters on October 15, as Boulder Reporting Lab reported. Axios Boulder reported that the building will also be the festival's year-round home.

Getting There Without the Car

The City of Boulder says most festival venues have no parking of their own. It recommends parking once and then walking, biking or taking transit. The transit plan is generous enough to make leaving the car at home a reasonable choice:

• Fare-free RTD routes: RTD is waiving fares on BOLT, JUMP, SKIP and a temporary CHAT route, with longer hours, according to the Daily Camera.
• CHAT to Chautauqua: every 10 minutes from 8 a.m. to midnight.
• Late service: BOLT runs 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 a.m. daily. JUMP, SKIP and the Flatiron Flyer run until 2 a.m., and extra AB and AL buses serve the airport.
• Free HOP: the city's HOP circulator will be free, with hours matched to the festival.
• Free e-bike passes: the city plans to offer up to 5,000 free shared e-bike passes.

A CHAT bus every 10 minutes until midnight means a late Chautauqua screening is a bus ride home from downtown. The Daily Camera reports that Sundance's mobile app launches in January with live shuttle information and ticket availability, which matters most to anyone hoping to catch tickets released by other package holders.

If hosting Sundance has you wondering what January will look like on your street, or how a festival winter fits into a sale or purchase you're planning for 2027, Laura Melquist is glad to talk it through. Book a free consultation, and we'll plan around the calendar together.