Chicago not looking to be permanent home of Sundance Film Festival
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An evening view of the Egyptian Theatre marquee during the 2024 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. Photo: Dia Dipasupil/Getty Images
The prestigious Sundance Film Festival could be leaving Park City, Utah, but Chicago won't be its new home.
Why it matters: The influential fest is a great place for independent filmmakers to brush elbows with studio executives and break into the scene, and it boosts the local economy.
Driving the news: The nonprofit that runs the festival and other programming is in Chicago this weekend for Sundance Institute x Chicago 2024, featuring screenings and panels for the public and filmmakers.
Between the lines: The Chicago Film Office and Choose Chicago paid Sundance $175,000 to host this weekend's festivities, which some film industry leaders saw as the city angling to be the festival's permanent home.
Reality check: Axios repeatedly asked city officials whether they had submitted a bid for it, but they wouldn't say.
- "Of course, the idea of hosting the Sundance Film Festival sparked our interest, but we were also keenly aware that Chicago already has one of the most vibrant and diverse film festival landscapes in the country," a Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE) spokesperson tells Axios.
- Chicago Film Office head Jonah Zeiger told the Tribune the city is not in consideration to be the permanent home.
Zoom in: Local film industry leaders also say Sundance isn't needed in a landscape that already includes 60 film festivals.
- "I would say Sundance, or any other international festival, you really have to consider where you're going, who's there already, and making sure that you don't mess up … the ecosystem of the film festivals in that community," Gene Siskel Film Center programming director Rebecca Fons tells Axios.
- Fons adds that local filmmakers should take advantage of this weekend's Sundance programming for networking and learning, and should do the same at Chicago International Film Festival, Black Harvest Film Festival, or any of the dozens of others in Chicago year-round.
Friction point: The $175,000 the city dropped could have been funneled into that already vibrant local film scene instead.
- "We haven't received that kind of funding in that kind of capacity, and I would say that $175,000 even divvied up [among the city's 60 fests], would be hugely impactful," Fons says.
The big picture: Filming in Illinois and Chicago is growing, and just this week, Gov. JB Pritzker expanded the state's successful 30% film tax credit, which will help bring in game shows, contests and national talk shows.
- "One thing that everyone agrees on — labor, business and government alike — is that bringing more film and television and commercial production to Illinois benefits our state's economy and workforce," Illinois Production Alliance executive director Christine Dudley tells Axios.
By the numbers: According to an IPA study released this year, 93.5% of productions say they wouldn't have filmed here if it weren't for the tax credit.
- The study also says that for every dollar the state spent on the tax credit, nearly $7 was generated in economic benefit.