The Sundance Film Festival is not coming to Atlanta, focusing on smaller cities

Atlanta was the largest metro area among the six finalists to be considered. If anything, Atlanta's style and atmosphere is nothing like Park City's small-town, ski-friendly atmosphere. Boulder, in comparison, also has skiing. And Cincinnati, which has an attractive waterfront, offered a very generous financial package.

In late July, the Sundance search committee visited each city, including Atlanta, which rolled out the red carpet with visits to the Fox Theater, Woodruff Arts Center, and King Center, and met and greeted with veteran music duo Indigo Girls, record producer Dallas. Austin, politician Jason Carter and actors Daniel Deadwiler and Ellen Hendricks.

Atlanta offered Sundance $2 million in upfront financial incentives and created a detailed website touting the city's environmental friendliness, its creative ethos and its diversity.

Christopher Escobar, who directs the Atlanta Film Festival and operates both the Plaza and the Tara Theater, said taking over the festival would be a major feather in the city's cap, a way to showcase the city's growing creative community. But he also knew Atlanta would be a big change for Sundance, given how different the city's style and personality is from Park City, where Sundance originated more than four decades ago. “I appreciate how open-minded they are considering us,” he said.

Escobar also called the process a “rally point” that brought together city officials, businesses, nonprofit groups and arts organizations.

“We've gained an incredibly useful perspective on our city and created a road map if we really want to develop our own world-class film festival,” Escobar said, adding that Sundance forced the city to look at itself differently while doing so. It follows major conferences or sporting events.

In its proposal to Sundance, the city of Atlanta hired an outside consultant to estimate Sundance's potential economic impact on Atlanta. If more than 120,000 people had visited over 10 days, it would have provided the city with $238.2 million in net visitor spending. If Atlanta were to increase the festival to 200,000 people, it could potentially attract $392.4 million in annual spending.

Kenny Blank, who directs the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival and was on the Atlanta host committee in the city's effort for the film festival, felt the city made a “strong and compelling case. … Even though we weren't selected, it's not for lack of trying. Only Sundance is the future home.” knows his ultimate vision for and we trust that they make the best decisions for their needs. We hope this process has created a deeper connection between Sundance and Atlanta, and we look forward to exploring opportunities for collaboration in the future.”

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said city officials “appreciate the Sundance Institute for considering Atlanta as a finalist to host the Sundance Film Festival. Atlanta is a city of creatives, artists, thinkers and doers and we will continue to showcase and highlight the talent that is such.” Creates a special place – a diverse and welcoming city where you can be