It has been announced that this year’s Sundance Film Festival, due to take place in Park City, Utah later this month, will be completely virtual for a second year in a row. Organisers did plan for the festival to be a hybrid affair with in-person audience events and an online presence, but due to the Omicron variant and rising Covid cases, it will now be virtual-only.
In a statement released lat on Wednesday, the festival said:
We have been looking forward to our first fully hybrid Sundance Film Festival and our teams have spent a year planning a festival like no other. But despite the most ambitious protocols, the Omicron variant with its unexpectedly high transmissibility rates is pushing the limits of health safety, travel and other infrastructures across the country. And so, today we’re announcing: the Festival’s in-person Utah elements will be moving online this year. While we’re disappointed to not provide the full hybrid experience and gather in-person as intended, audiences this year will still experience the magic and energy of our Festival with bold new films and XR work, the discovery of new storytellers, direct encounters with artists, and an innovative globally accessible social platform and gallery space. Our partner community will also be adding a vibrant dimension to the festival with a rich mix of conversation, talent talks and events.
While it is a deep loss to not have the in-person experience in Utah, we do not believe it is safe nor feasible to gather thousands of artists, audiences, employees, volunteers, and partners from around the world, for an eleven-day festival while overwhelmed communities are already struggling to provide essential services.
The festival will go ahead online with a superb line-up set to kick off from 20th until 30th January.
