Sundance Revs Up Operations in Boulder, Hires New Managing Director

With just nine months remaining before the first Boulder, Colorado, edition of the Sundance Film Festival, the organizers of the world’s most important showcase for independent cinema — which was held in Park City, Utah, for the last 45 years — are making big moves, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

Sundance has hired Paula Dupré Pesmen, an Oscar-nominated producer of narrative film franchises (Home Alone and Harry Potter) and documentaries (The Cove and Porcelain War), and the founder of a multi-state organization that helps sick children and their families (There With Care), as managing director of festival and institute operations. Pesmen, who has lived in Boulder for 30 years — she helped the city put together its pitch for Sundance and then was brought on by the fest as managing director of its relocation — is now the fest’s highest-ranking official based in town.

There are currently 10 Sundance employees based in Colorado, six in the Boulder area. Jeff Levine, the fest’s head of audience development and experience, recently relocated his family to Boulder; he is conducting outreach to people across the state, from which the fest hopes to draw two-thirds of its attendees, as it did when it was held in Utah. Dana Bacardi, who has lived in Boulder for years and previously worked with Pesmen at There With Care, is now the fest’s associate director of individual giving, tasked with raising some $10 million to help pay for the upgrading of fest venues and equipment.

Sundance intends to recruit additional local hires and volunteers in the coming months.

In late March, Sundance — represented by Pesmen, festival director and head of public programming Eugene Hernandez, director of festival programming Kim Yutani, senior programmer and director of strategic initiatives John Nein, producer of film festival and public programming Bill Curran, director of industry relations Rosie Wong, assistant director of industry relations Laura Henneman, interim head of communications Tiffany Duersch and PR consultant Laura Kim — welcomed to Boulder some 75 publicists, sales reps and distributors who handle fest logistics for their respective companies.

The out-of-towners had cocktails with Colorado Governor Jared Polis and were introduced, by foot and bus, to the 13 screening venues that have been selected for the first Sundance in Boulder. Three of those venues are on the campus of the University of Colorado Boulder — Macky Auditorium Concert Hall, which seats more than 2,000, plus the smaller Muenzinger Auditorium and Roe Green Theatre — and others are on or near the Pearl Street Mall, which runs through the center of downtown, including the 90-year-old Boulder Theater, which is being modernized; the 125-year-old Chautauqua Auditorium, which is being winterized; and eTown Hall.

Press and industry screenings, meanwhile, will take place at the Cinemark Century Boulder. And talks and other programming will be held at the Canyon Theater, Dairy Arts Center, Old Main and eTown Hall.

Trip attendees tell THR they found the fest’s screening venues to be highly impressive — “I thought the theaters were gorgeous and I am very comfortable with showing our films there, especially at Macky,” remarked one studio flack. But several expressed concern about the quantity, quality and cost of accommodations in the area. “We are capital-S stressed about that,” one put it, noting that, in recent years, finding desirable housing in and around Park City had become a “nightmare.”

Sundance is aiming to mitigate those frustrations in Boulder by partnering with local establishments “to offer rooms at negotiated preferred rates to select eligible members of our community within a limited window of time,” as fest officials recently put it in an email. The fest’s lodging portal, which will open to fest regulars — including members of the press — in waves starting on April 21, will include the most appealing establishments in the city’s downtown area, including the modern luxury St Julien Hotel & Spa (201 rooms) and the 117-year-old Hotel Boulderado (160 rooms), and on the CU Boulder campus, including two that opened within the last three years, Moxy Boulder (189 rooms), a Marriott property, and Limelight Boulder (252 rooms).

The portal will also begin offering short-term rentals of Boulder homes and apartments beginning in May, something that only just became possible following the approval of “festival lodging” ordinances by the Boulder City Council. Options may be found in the neighboring communities of Longmont, Louisville and Superior, as well.

Some fest attendees — particularly those who have to wait until the last minute to make travel plans and/or desire luxury accommodations — might end up opting to stay in Denver, which is just a 45-minute drive from Boulder and offers dozens of hotels, including five-star establishments like a Ritz-Carlton and a Four Seasons.

While catering to the needs of out-of-towners, Sundance is also cultivating interest and support among locals, from CU Boulder students (who will be offered discounted admission to its screenings) to year-round residents.

The fest held two events in Boulder last summer to introduce itself to the community. In July, at a free gathering called Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Sundance Film Festival, Hernandez moderated a conversation with Sean Wang and Pete Nicks, filmmakers whose careers were launched at the fest, and Nein and fellow senior programmer Heidi Zwicker gave presentations. In August, Hernandez and Yutani fielded questions about the fest from local journalist Lisa Kennedy.

The fest has also partnered with organizations in Boulder and across the state to host film screenings. Last September, it co-hosted with the Boulder International Film Festival — a beloved local event that celebrated its 22nd edition last weekend, generating record attendance — a screening of Come See Me in the Good Light, a documentary about Colorado’s former poet laureate. And this week, it co-hosted a screening at the Denver Film Festival of I Love Boosters, a Boots Riley film that recently debuted at SXSW.

“The hospitality, ingenuity and enthusiasm we’re seeing in both Boulder and the state of Colorado is truly astonishing and super exciting,” Hernandez tells THR. “Spending more and more time building in Boulder, with monthly events counting down the days, we’re seeing our festival come to life in its new home. We’re already finding new friends, supporters, partners and audiences. So we couldn’t be in better hands than with Paula and our team on the ground in Colorado guiding the way. To have someone who knows and lives in the community leading the way with us is paving the path to our festival’s growth in Colorado.”