Less than two weeks after the Sundance Film Festival announced its 2027 move from Utah to Colorado, Gov. Jared Polis signed HB25-1005, a new refundable tax incentive bill that will support the film industry in Colorado.
The bill creates two refundable tax credits. One will provide the Sundance Film Festival with $34 million in incentives doled out over the next decade. The other will provide $500,000 annually to support small film festivals in the Centennial State.
In 2024, nearly 73,000 people attended the 10-day Sundance Film Festival. The event created 1,730 jobs for Utah residents, generating $9.7 million in wages, $132 million in GDP, and more than $13.8 in state and local tax revenue.
The economic impact of the Sundance Film Festival on the Colorado economy is expected to generate $2.4 billion over the next 10 years.
It’s anticipated that because of local hotelier John Cullen’s efforts, Estes Park will be the setting for many of the institute’s immersive Sundance learning programs for feature and documentary filmmakers, directors, producers, composers, and other film industry creatives.
Last May, fellows in the Sundance Institute’s Directors Lab spent two weeks at The Stanley Hotel with seasoned filmmakers. The Director’s Lab, part of the Sundance Institute’s Feature Film Program, is set to take place again this summer in Estes during the first two weeks of June.
“Bringing the Sundance Film Festival to Colorado will elevate Estes Park’s thriving creative community and provide meaningful economic activity for our small businesses. We are very excited to work with Visit Boulder and our other northern Colorado destination marketing partners on this important initiative,” said Cindy Mackin, Visit Estes Park community engagement director.
Nick Thomas, an actor and Estes Park resident, called the tax credits “a wonderful thing for film, arts, and the state in general, but it affects Estes in a positive and wonderful way too.”
“With the news of one of the top three film festivals worldwide moving their base to within an hour’s drive of our community, it will certainly help bolster the recent bond offering of the Stanley Hotel that includes $60 million to build a state-of-the-art film center, one that will undoubtedly be used as one of Sundance’s satellites during those two weeks in January,” said Thomas.
Speaking of the Sundance Directors Lab, Thomas said, “Our community, and the natural beauty in and around our town, will inspire visiting filmmakers to come and make better use of what we and the area have to offer.”
Thomas is hopeful that with the arrival of Sundance, a long-hoped-for local performing arts center may come to fruition. “Art supports art, and a rising tide floats all boats,” said Thomas.
Representatives Monica Duran (D-Wheat Ridge) and Brianna Titone (D-Arvada) and Senators Judy Amabile (D-Boulder) and Mark Baisley (R-Woodland Park) sponsored the bill. Amabile served the Estes Valley as its State Representative for two years before she was elected to the Colorado Senate in November.
Titone, a filmmaker and advocate for the state’s film industry, says Sundance will bring productions and industry jobs to the state.
“Colorado is going to finally be on the map for a significant presence of film, and I think that that’s an important start to really growing what we’re starting here,” Titone said.
At the signing ceremony, Polis noted that Colorado does not have the money for large advertising campaigns like other states. But he thinks the value of Sundance is something money can’t buy.
“The exposure you get from hosting the premier Film Festival is worth more than 10 million in ads, or 20 million ads,” Polis said.
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