PARK CITY, Utah ? The 2026 Sundance Film Festival unfolded as a public farewell to Park City, with longtime attendees treating the final Utah edition as the close of a defining chapter in American independent film.

In its report from Main Street, The Associated Press said many longtime festivalgoers openly described this year as their last Sundance, arguing that the move to Boulder, Colorado would change the event's identity in ways they were not willing to follow.

The sense of transition was already built into the festival's official setup. AP's opening-week guide said the 42nd festival would be the last in its longtime Utah home and the first since founder Robert Redford's death in September 2025.

That emotional context deepened at the festival gala, where AP reported that filmmakers and actors remembered Redford not just as a founder, but as a mentor whose artist-development programs remain central to Sundance's legacy.

The films still drove the festival, but the mood around Park City made clear that 2026 was also about leaving a place that had become part of Sundance's meaning.