Sundancing Like the Locals

If you’ve been keeping up with the Park City events calendar, you know that one of the biggest and brightest events of the year is just around the corner: the Sundance Film Festival. Starting January 23rd and running until February 2nd, Sundance is a celebration of cinematography, and also happens to be the largest independent film festival in the United States.

Sundance describes itself in this way:

“Our 10-day Festival welcomes more than 124,000 attendees and spreads out across three locations: Park City, Salt Lake City, and the Sundance Mountain Resort near Provo.”

Whether you’re a veteran attendee, or you’re looking forward to your first time at a Sundance screening, we’ve put together this helpful guide to make sure you can make it to the films you want to see in the most convenient, comfortable way.

Tickets

One of the most important things to remember is that each city in the Sundance event schedule is separated by a 30- to 75-minute drive, so you will want to make sure you select screening tickets in the city where you plan on spending most of your time.

Tickets went on sale for Sundance members yesterday, and will be on sale tomorrow, January 16th, for locals. Tickets will be available until they’re completely sold out. The non-local public can purchase tickets starting January 21st, so if you’re planning on attending from out of state, you’ll want to make sure to be online right at 10am (MST) to ensure you can grab your seats.

The Park City theaters that will be hosting premiers and showings are as follows:

Eccles Theatre
Egyptian Theatre
Prospector Square Theatre
The MARC Theatre
The Ray Theatre

Making Your Experience Amazing:

Pro-tip #1: Don’t drive. While Park City is charming, beautiful, elegant, and a natural wonderland, it’s not known exactly for its parking availability. (Ironic for a place called “Park” City, right?) In reality, parking during Sundance is a nightmare. We suggest you come via carpool, Uber or take advantage of the free PC Public transportation.

Pro-tip #2: Dress for the occasion. Park City is a very walkable town, and since we’ve already discussed the need for ride sharing, you’ll need to bring proper footwear (i.e. insulated and waterproof snow boots). Sorels are the preferred brand of Park City, and they even have a whole line dedicated to the city! That’s just one option, if you’re in need of something with great traction but that is still very cute.

Pro-tip #3: Have a plan. If you already have tickets, YAY YOU!! We talked about ticket sales above, but you’ll want to keep in mind the distances between cities if you’re looking to catch a certain film in a certain place. And, if you’re trying to up your chances of catching sight of one of your Hollywood favorites, we loved this article that tells you exactly who is in which film.

For any of your other event related questions, be sure to check out the Sundance website, and be sure to check out the festival map that includes more details on each venue, theatre, and even shuttle routes.

We hope you have a fantastic time at Sundance! If you’ve got any down time between events, Sundance is a phenomenal time for skiing! No one is on the slopes. Let me know if you head to Deer Valley Resort! My office is located in Silver Lake!