PARK CITY, Utah (AP) — The Sundance Film Festival may not always call Park City, Utah, home. The Sundance Institute has started to explore the possibility of other U.S. locations to host the independent film festival starting in 2027, the organization said Wednesday.
The 2025 and 2026 festivals will still take place in Park City and Salt Lake City. But with the current contract up for renewal in 2027, the institute is taking steps to look at all options through a request for information and request for proposal process, beginning immediately. The final selection, which could still be Park City, is expected to be announced by early 2025.
“We are in a unique moment for our Festival and our global film community, and with the contract up for renewal, this exploration allows us to responsibly consider how we best continue sustainably serving our community while maintaining the essence of the Festival experience,” said Eugene Hernandez, the festival's director.
Hernandez said they want to “ensure that the Festival continues to thrive culturally, operationally, and financially as it has for four decades.”
Park City has been home to the Robert Redford-founded festival for 40 years. The festival and its sponsors take over many venues in the small city every January to transform it into a film festival hub with theaters in places like the library and a recreation center. Store fronts along the city's charming Main Street become exclusive lounges for actors and filmmakers, and restaurants host cast parties after global film premieres.
Mayor Nann Worel said she does not want the festival to leave Park City, which has grown into a world-renowned mountain town since Sundance first put it on the map decades ago.
“We appreciate our partnership with Sundance, and we want the Festival to remain here for another 40 years,” Worel said.
She committed Wednesday to working with state leaders and local partners to discuss the festival's future. Last year's hybrid festival generated just over $118 million for the state of Utah, according to Sundance's 2023 economic impact report.
Sundance has also been a launching pad for many top filmmakers over the years and has hosted premieres for eventual Oscar nominees and winners, including “CODA,” their first best picture winner, and the past three documentary winners “20 Days in Mariupol,”“Navalny” and “Summer of Soul.” The Utah festival received a record number of submissions last year.
The festival has long sparred with local ski resorts — Park City's other major money maker — as more than 86,000 festivalgoers fill the hotels and leave the slopes virtually empty for two weeks during peak ski season.
The festival has made concessions over the years, such as moving more screenings to neighboring Salt Lake City and shifting its dates slightly so ski areas could cash in on a holiday weekend. But, like the resorts, it cannot afford to miss the early weeks of winter. Sundance has positioned itself as the first major film festival of each calendar year, meaning it's the first stop for many of the best new projects from around the globe.
Deer Valley Resort, home to Park City's skiers-only slopes, said Wednesday that it views its relationship with Sundance as mutually beneficial and strongly supports keeping the festival in town.
“Like Deer Valley, Sundance Film Festival is an integral part of Park City and greater Utah," spokesperson Emily Summers said in a statement. “We support the festival and its long history within the community.”
“Park City Mountain values all that the Sundance Film Festival brings to our community each year, and we hope it will continue to call Park City and Utah home,” said Sara Huey, a Park City Mountain Resort spokesperson.
Redford, who stepped back from the Sundance spotlight years ago, expressed concern in 2016 that the festival as it existed might have outgrown Park City and was thinking about ways to evolve. He and his daughter, Amy Redford, who is on the board, have been involved in the process announced Wednesday.
Last month, the Institute’s CEO Joana Vicente stepped down after two and a half years in the position. Amanda Kelso, a member of the board, was appointed acting CEO, but no permanent replacement has been announced.
FILE - The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 28, 2020, in Park City, Utah. The Sundance Film Festival may not always call Park City home. The Sundance Institute has started to explore the possibility of other U.S. locations to host the independent film festival starting in 2027, the organization said Wednesday, April 17, 2024. (Photo by Arthur Mola/Invision/AP, File)
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A bill that would require North Carolina sheriffs to comply with requests by federal agents interested in picking up jail inmates believed to be in the country illegally passed a Senate committee Tuesday, making it the first major legislation to advance in this year's work session.
The bill already cleared the House last year but stalled in the Senate until it was approved by the chamber's judiciary committee on a voice vote. The Senate action signals the measure is a priority for state Republicans who now hold narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers. A full Senate vote could come later this week.
Two earlier editions of the bill passed the legislature in 2019 and 2022, only to be successfully vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper because Democrats held more seats than today. GOP election gains mean Republicans can override a potential Cooper veto this year if they stay united. Cooper has said a previous version was “only about scoring political points” by the GOP on immigration.
The bill essentially requires sheriffs or jailers in all 100 counties to hold inmates accused of violent felonies or some misdemeanors up to 48 hours if U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has issued what's called a detainer. It also requires the involvement of judicial officials to order law enforcement to hold the inmate in question, according to the bill.
In an ICE detainer request, immigration agents ask to be notified before the release from a local jail of a defendant whom the agency believes is in the country unlawfully.
Sheriffs or other law enforcement officials already are tasked with checking an inmate’s legal status if they are charged with serious crimes, according to state law. If a determination cannot be made on someone’s legal status, a query should be sent to ICE.
But not all sheriffs are following through with those queries, said Rep. Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican and a sponsor of the bill who spoke at Tuesday's committee hearing. Hall added that a group of sheriffs — primarily Democrats from urban counties — have resisted compliance with detainers, which critics say aren’t true arrest warrants. He said those shortcomings inspired a need for the bill.
“To me, it is amazing that we have to have a bill like this,” Hall said. “It seems to be common sense that law enforcement should cooperate with one another.”
Hall said the bill would make communities safer. He cited incidents where federal immigration officers should have been contacted about an inmate, but they were later released and went on to commit more crimes.
Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page, a Republican, spoke in support of the legislation, saying it would “remove criminal offenders from our communities.”
Most public speakers during the hearing opposed the measure, however. Lawyers, activists and small business owners voiced concern that the bill could lead to North Carolina’s immigrant community feeling unsafe and unwelcome.
The legislation also raises serious constitutional concerns of due process violations and causes more problems for law enforcement, said Sejal Zota, legal director with the Just Futures Law group, which assists immigrants.
“The bill interferes with communities and sheriffs’ decisions about local resources and priorities, exposes sheriffs and counties to expensive lawsuits for constitutional violation and further erodes community trust in law enforcement,” said Andressia Ramirez of the North Carolina Justice Center, which advocates for low-income residents.
Mecklenburg County Sheriff Garry McFadden, one of the Democratic sheriffs who doesn't comply with detainer requests, said last week the bill is an “absolutely” political move that unfairly targets sheriffs in urban counties. But he said he would comply with the law if the bill should be enacted — even if he had some questions on how it would affect county resources.
An amendment approved Tuesday by the committee in part would allow anyone to file a complaint with state Attorney General’s Office if the person alleged a sheriff or jail administrator wasn’t abiding by the proposed legislation. The attorney general could then ask a judge to force the jailer to comply.
The bill must clear one more Senate committee. Wilson County Republican Sen. Buck Newton, a judiciary committee co-chairman, told reporters it was a “reasonable expectation” for the bill to be voted on the Senate floor this week. The House also would have to formally agree to the Senate changes for it to reach Cooper's desk.
Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page expresses support for the immigration-related bill during a state Senate judiciary committee hearing at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. He said the bill would keep communities safer. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
Sejal Zota, the legal director for the Just Futures Law advocacy group, voices opposition to the immigration-related bill during a state Senate judiciary committee hearing at the Legislative Office Building on Tuesday, April 30, 2024. The bill enforces compliance with federal immigration officers' requests to detain inmates for sheriffs and jail administrators. (AP Photo/Makiya Seminera)
