PARK CITY, Utah — The sprint to the Sundance Festival stage along a jam-packed stretch of Main Street is a rite of passage for many American filmmakers, and it’s one they will do for the last time this year.
“I’ve been at Sundance where you’re late to your screening and you literally can’t drive down Main Street the traffic is so bad,” said Gregg Araki, who is gearing up for his 10th film premiere at the festival with the buzzy comedy “I Want Your Sex.”
“So you get out of your car and run,” he added.
The traffic in town is a function of how the once-folksy independent film event Robert Redford founded in the 1980s has outgrown the little ski village. This year, Park City is hosting its final Sundance — which kicks off Thursday — before the festival relocates next year to Boulder, Colorado, a city about 12 times bigger.
It is also the first Sundance since Redford died in September at age 89, and organizers have planned a mix of programming that honors him and takes in the sweep of his festival’s history.
“There is a poignant aspect to this year because of the change that’s about to come,” said festival Director Eugene Hernandez, speaking as his team of volunteers was setting up the festival’s many venues, including a converted Park City sporting goods store that transforms annually into a 500-seat theater. “We knew that it was going to be this culmination in Utah, and we wanted to acknowledge and celebrate that.”
Sundance grew out of Redford’s belief in using his influence to open doors for others, his daughter Amy Redford told NBC’s “TODAY” show. He saw the event, and its nonprofit Sundance Institute, as an opportunity to “change the world,” she said.
Directors like Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Ryan Coogler and Chloé Zhao have all had their early careers boosted by premieres here.
Redford’s impact is also evident in the turnout: Last year, more than 85,000 people attended the fest, according to an economic impact commissioned by the Sundance Institute.
This Sundance will host a gala launching an award in Redford’s name; a screening of his first independent film, 1969’s “Downhill Racer”; and reunion events for films from festivals past, such as “Little Miss Sunshine,” “House Party” and “Saw.”
Sundance programmers are also looking forward with their slate, which includes newcomers like singer-songwriter Charli XCX, who will attend the premiere of her A24 concert mockumentary, “The Moment,” and who has roles in two other films screening here: Araki’s “I Want Your Sex” and an art world satire called “The Gallerist” with Natalie Portman and Zach Galifianakis.
Olivia Wilde is also here as a director for her new film, “The Invite,” with Seth Rogen. There will also be films featuring Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård (“Wicker”), Gemma Chan and Channing Tatum (“Josephine”) and Ethan Hawke and Russell Crowe (“The Weight”).
Sundance has also long been considered a launchpad for documentaries — this year’s festival includes films about noteworthy figures like Salman Rushdie, Nelson Mandela, Courtney Love, Brittney Griner, Billie Jean King and comedian Maria Bamford.
The festival comes as the American film industry is grappling with big changes, including a battle over the future of Warner Bros. Discovery and the adoption of artificial intelligence.
With two documentaries about AI set to screen, “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist” and “Ghost in the Machine,” and with companies like Adobe and Luma AI bringing executives to the festival to court filmmakers around the new technology, AI is likely to be a hot discussion topic here.
Some longtime festivalgoers say Sundance may just be the best place to hash out the industry’s challenges.
Ava DuVernay, who won best director at Sundance in 2012 for “Middle of Nowhere” and served on the festival’s board for six years, will be in Park City participating in a conversation with documentary filmmaker Barbara Kopple.
“In this time when our industry feels like it’s collapsing onto itself, with corporatization, consolidation, AI, all the things that artists fear,” DuVernay said, “there’s an opportunity for Sundance to be the place that plants a flag for independence.”