Louisville named finalist to host Sundance Film Festival

Louisville named finalist to become future host of prestigious Sundance Film Festival

Updated: 4:42 PM EDT Jul 19, 2024

Well, good afternoon, Louisville. We are already home to the greatest two minutes in sports who’s ready to be home to the greatest 10 days in film. Thank you all for joining us here at the historic and beautiful Louisville Palace Theater. This is one of our city’s great venues and it’s been open since 1928 millions of people and many generations of Louis vs have come here to see great live shows and amazing films. This building has an incredible history just like our city and our arts community. And we’re here today to talk about some incredibly exciting prospects for the future of our city that will include the palace and other great venues around our city. Actually, it will impact our entire city going back to even before I was mayor. One of the promises I made when running for mayor is that when we saw opportunity, we were gonna go for it. We were gonna take swings at the balls that were coming our way. And that means when we see an opportunity to do something big that will help strengthen our economy, help us grow as *** city, bring us together, celebrate who we are boost the city’s brand around the country and the world. We’re gonna go for it. We’re gonna go all in and I made that promise because like everyone here today, we all believe in what Louisville has to offer. We all believe in the future of our city, in the promise of our city and we believe in betting on ourselves. And that’s why we’re all here to celebrate great news involving the Sundance Film Festival. For those of you who are not aware for more than 40 years, the Sundance Film Festival has been the premier international film festival for independent filmmakers and all of their films. The Sundance Film Festival helped launch the careers of, of directors like Ava Duvernay, Quentin Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh and some of the films that they viewed there include Napoleon Dynamite, American psycho, the Blair Witch Project, Little Miss Savannah Coda, and many more that went on to become Oscar winners. Blockbuster hits cult classics and more. The festival is named after Robert Redford’s character in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid. In fact, Robert Redford is the founder of the Sundance Institute. And recently the Sundance Institute announced that it’s looking for the, looking at the possibility of moving to *** new home when their contract with Park City Utah expires in 2026. So when I heard that I said to my team, let’s go for it. It’s *** win win opportunity. Louisville would be *** fantastic new home for the Sundance Film Festival and having the Sundance Film Festival in Louisville would foster new connections for our own local creative community of storytellers and artists. And that’s exactly the kind of work that my colleagues and I had in mind when we launched the Office of Arts and Creative Industries. Last year, working with Deputy Mayor Pat Malloy and director Jessica Kincaid, we engaged an outstanding team of local creative individuals and leaders from around our city to put together this compelling proposal. Many of whom are here today. We included our friends from the state government, Governor Beshear, president of the Senate Robert Stivers, who’s here with us today. Speaker Osborne, Senator Neal and others, we involve, involve President Winkler and colleagues on the Metro Council Cleo battle from Louisville Tourism and many more who I’m going to introduce shortly, more than 90 cities across the country wanted to be considered for this prestigious and amazing opportunity to host the Sundance Film Festival. And just *** couple of hours ago, the Sundance Institute announced that it had narrowed the field to six remaining cities. And I am so proud and excited to announce that Louisville is now *** finalist to be the future home of the Sundance Film Festival. On behalf of our entire city and the entire committee, I want to express our great appreciation to the Sundance Selection Committee for their consideration for their sincere interest for the time they spent with us and the thoughtful questions they’ve asked already throughout the process, we’re very excited to reach this stage in the process. At the same time, we’re not content just to be in the running. We want to win and we want to help the Sundance Film Festival grow in new and exciting ways. And that’s why I’m all in. That’s why our city is all in. That’s why our state all in. And that’s why we’re all here today to give you *** sense of just how big of *** deal this would be for our city. In 2023 about 87,000 people attended the Sundance Film Festival in person. And in terms of virtual attendees, they had over 285,000 participants online hosting the Sundance Film Festival could generate up to 100 and $70 million or more in economic activity for our local economy here in Louisville. And it would certainly establish Louisville globally as *** leader for creative and innovative people in general and in the film industry in particular, what happens next is that some representatives from the Sundance Selection Committee are going to be coming to our city to visit us later this month and we can’t wait. I’m so excited to share with them what all of us Louisville’s already know and what the millions of people who visit our city already know that Louisville is *** great city with stories to tell and we celebrate those storytellers who tell them. We are *** proudly diverse and welcoming city with *** growing immigrant population from all over the world. We respect the distinct and authentic voice of every member of our community. We’re the home to icons like Muhammad Ali, Hunter S Thompson, Jennifer Lawrence, Jack Harlow, an amazing community of artists and people who love film and the arts in every sense and in every form. And anyone who’s visited, Louisville knows that hospitality is part of who we are. It’s in our DNA. We love good conversations and we love making connections. Bourbon, of course, helps *** little with that, but so does the incredible local food and our wonderful unique restaurants that we have here in Louisville, welcoming people from all over the world and showing them *** great time is *** point of pride and passion for all of us in Louisville. We have *** lot of experience doing that. We just finished hosting the world for the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby where we set new records and now we’re welcoming people like never before at music festivals like Bourbon and beyond and louder than life. This fall plus h huge sporting events like the record-breaking PGA Championship that we just held here and arts festivals like the upcoming Saint James Art Fair, we offer create uh convenient and accessible locations that other cities can only dream of. We’re within *** day’s drive of two thirds of the us population. We want to work with the Sundance Institute to make the Sundance Film Festival more accessible to more audiences than ever before. And we want to help lift up voices that need to be heard by increasing opportunities for filmmakers and other artists in Kentucky and beyond. And we’re ready to partner with the Sundance Institute to do all of this in *** way that embodies our shared commitment to cultural equity to sustainability and everything we do for the decades to come. We’ll be showcasing fantastic venues like right here at the palace, which is an incredible venue for films and we’ll show them everything that the city of Louisville and the Commonwealth of Kentucky has to offer. We are committed to building on the incredible legacy of the Sundance Film Festival by creating *** future that does what so many great films do. They take us to amazing places beyond our imagination. We also want to support Sundance’s community of storytellers and other creatives creators in ways that host cities have not done before, before I introduce you to some of the other people who have helped bring us to this day. And that are going to be key in working collaboratively to bring the Sundance Film Festival to Louisville. I want to share with you *** little part of our proposal. So here’s *** sneak peek at *** film that we created, which helped interest the Sundance Film Festival Selection Committee and Louisville. If you could please play the film ready. I’m mayor of our city is *** city with great stories to tell. Let’s tell some great stories together. I look forward to welcoming you to our city and welcome Sundance film fest. What I love about being an artist at global is the culture, the people. There’s so much to show and there’s so many stories to tell what I love about the so I can, everybody’s always down and open for collaboration, how welcoming it is. I just moved back. I’ve just been in 10 years in New York City and I feel like I don’t have the same constraints here. People are accepting and they come out in the work and there is important. Anytime I talk about my work to anyone, they’re excited. The great thing about this city that spills over into parts and everything else is it’s *** compact city, but it’s got everything. Video me oftentimes feel like *** safe space to go and explore what it means to like dance and move, experience, music, experience different types of shows. What I love about the. They are very accessible and uh all very different, unique and like every venue has an entire story to it, historic, diverse and uh somewhat surprising. They feel like, oh, you feel like it’s your neighborhood spot, they’re just really uh accepted. I think what makes really special differences access to green space within the city limits. We have such an amazing park system here. We’ve got the largest urban forestry in the country. Kentucky has more navigable waterways in any state other than Alaska. There’s this cohesiveness in the city between what you would expect from the big city and then what you would expect from overall. What’s the attitude like in the city pretty laid back excepting because global is *** melting pot. So *** lot of people do come with their own ideals and uh cultures. It might surprise *** lot of people outside of the state to know that the vibe is super progressive and very accepting of *** lot of different cultures and lifestyle. I was raised in America from *** lot of major cities in about. There’s this kind of rhythm and exception of the love that flows throughout the entire city. I’d say the vibe is like underground and *** little bit of an edge diy and weird. Thank you. It is diverse and it’s, it’s just *** lot I’ve seen over and over again place where creative things happen, the question that I would ask by what you go about it. Sh said we’re gonna find it because it’s here. That’s just some part of what gave the selection committee *** taste of what Louisville has to offer. And some of the amazing storytellers, artists and creative individuals that we already have in Louisville to pull this off is going to take *** lot of support. *** lot of support from the city government and so *** special thanks to Metro council President Marcus Winkler, who’s here with us today for his support of this initiative. But beyond the city, it’s also going to take *** partnership with this Commonwealth of Kentucky. And so I want to thank Governor Beshear in his administration. Governor Beshear is out of the uh state today and unable to join us. But beyond the Governor’s administration, we also are going to have to continue to part with the Kentucky General Assembly. The Kentucky General Assembly has been *** strong supporter of the film and production industry already enacting new incentives that have helped our film production capacity here in Louisville and around the state grow and flourish. It’s one of the things that provides *** foundation for us to even have this opportunity to be where we are today and one of the biggest supporters of the film industry here in Kentucky, we are so proud to have with us here today. Uh And he is here in his second home of Louisville, Kentucky, joining us from Manchester Kentucky, our Kentucky State Senate president, my good friend, Robert Stuver. Well, it’s pretty bad to walk into your second home. And the first thing you’re gonna do is correct, the person who invited you to come here. Uh This won’t be just *** good endeavor for the city of Louisville to be the host of. This will be something that will be great for the whole commonwealth of Kentucky as the mayor and I have talked on many occasions, I’m very much about economics. Economics could change *** lot of things, you change the trajectory of people if you give them the ability to have *** different economic outlook on life. And so when you think about the Sundance Film Festival and what it would be for an immediate economic impact to this area, it would be tremendous. We have looked at numbers but then the residual economics of it as to what it would do for spurring this industry on and creating another industry that would help this commonwealth. It was *** no brainer to say to the mayor when he came and said, what can we do and that plays into with you all to make this happen, incentive packages. What is out there? And there were many nights and let me tell you this, you may see the mayor here today and Mary K Poe has backed me to my left. Uh many nights. I live in Manchester about 2.5 hours away from here. We were texting back and forth and I don’t always get good cell service. So I have to go outside sometimes to get the good cell service. There’s *** walnut tree that for some reason helps me get reception. Uh and we’re going back and forth about, well, can we put this type of package together? What would this do? What would be the support of the General Assembly for making this happen over *** 10 year period and putting together the economic package, both the immediate impact and the residual impact. And then the possibilities of bringing more and more of the industry here to the state of Kentucky. This would be key to that. And so over many months, many days, *** lot of communications were had with me and other people who are in the Frankfurt side of government. And that has come to this point where the mayor can sit here on behalf of Louisville and the Commonwealth of Kentucky and say that we’re in the game. We’re one of the top six. And I truly believe that there is great opportunity to win this great opportunity to win this and be the host of the Sundance Film Festival. Now, can I guarantee anything? No, nobody can guarantee anything. But one thing I can guarantee out of that is you’re doomed to failure if you don’t try. And so from my perspective, I can’t guarantee what the General Assembly will do, what will come about in incentives, but I will guarantee this. I am going to make my best effort to convince my colleagues to come and work with the mayor as we did in this past session to make Louisville and Kentucky the rural and urban areas better. And this is one of the ways we can do it by trying to attract and bring quality big time, sophisticated events to our cities. And our commonwealth. That’s the pledge to hear today. And that is ***, *** and series of events that we must try because if we don’t try, we will be doomed to fail. So to the mayor and his team, congratulations on getting to this point. Thank you, Mr President. Thank you, Mr. The president is not the person who came from the furthest distance today. However, to join us, our next speaker is *** Louisville resident loves Louisville but had *** difficult time getting back thanks to *** national computer glitch that was impacting the airlines today, but he still made it Cleo Battle. And his team at Louisville Tourism spend every day working to welcome people to Louisville to come to Louisville and then making sure when they get here, they have an amazing time supporting the entire hospitality industry and everything that our city has to offer for guests from around the country and world. And so Cleo and his team at Louisville Tourism have been close collaborators with our entire committee to work to get to this point and we will be critical partners as we move forward to hopefully welcome the Sundance Film Festival to Louisville, Kentucky starting in 2027. Ladies and gentlemen, the CEO of Louisville Tourism, Cleo battle. You know, President Crs I I appreciate the fact that you’re right. We can’t, we can’t guarantee this what I can guarantee the 67,000 folks that work in the hospitality industry in this community will be ready. We do events in this town and we do them well, Sundance Film Festival. This is the perfect stage for you. We host over 600 events annually in Louisville. Last month we had the Episcopal Church 8000 members. We have 10,000 youth basketball players. This month in December, we’ll host the NCAA women’s final four. Here, we have hosted major events down to an art in this city, Louisville. We know how to roll out the red carpet. And I’ll tell you it is not just the tourists and professionals and the front line staff. It’s this entire community that plays *** supporting role in making events in our city feel like they’re on center stage. We witnessed this V annually. The mayor just mentioned the Kentucky Derby and the festival, September. We’ve got the Danny Weber presents festivals and we just saw as the mayor mentioned record numbers at PGA and the UFC event that just happened in June. We do events well, here in this community, Louisville will also make *** great audience for the Sundance Film Festival. We will be *** great promoter to this event around the globe. The potential of bringing Sundance Film Festival to Bourbon City isn’t just about hosting another festival. It’s about celebrating the independent spirit, storytelling in *** city that knows how to turn *** script into *** Blockbuster experience. You caught that, right? We’re ready to show, we’re ready to show Sundance while Louisville is not just *** contender, we’re the scene they’ve been waiting to shoot. So here’s to bring in the soul of the film industry to the heart of Bourbon country. Let’s give it up. Thanks, Cleo. There are so many people with us today that are part of this committee who have tremendous experiences within the film industry. Many of my friends here on the committee have been to Sundance many times have been involved in producing films. They’ve been in films, they’ve supported films, they’ve sponsored films and so many others. And right now we have *** growing industry as we just talked about why right here in our city and across our state. And so our final speaker today is here to talk *** little bit about the film industry, what it means in Louisville and around the state. She is the chair of 502 film. She’s from Louisville has lived in California involved in that industry there and is now back home, helping us with so many others here today continue to develop this critically important industry and *** huge supporter of bringing the Sundance Film Festival to Louisville. Ladies and gentlemen, Susie Eastman. Bye everyone. Thank you, Mayor Greenberg. What an exciting day for our creative community and our entire city, Louisville is internationally known as the home of Bourbon Baseball bats, the most exciting two minutes in sports and of course, being the home of the greatest of all time, but those of us who live here know all of that about our city and we know that we are also so much more. Our artists and our art scene are incredible. Our orchestra, actors, theater, the speed Cinema, our festivals, our interconnected creative community are like no other. In 2015, I was able to relocate from Los Angeles back to my hometown because of our burgeoning film industry. Over the past decade, we have grown our economic impact and footprint. We have hundreds of full-time filmmakers who live here. People from across the country who have moved here, we have Emmy Winners Academy Award nominees and recipients of Sundance Institute grants that call Louisville home. We have our first sound stages in construction at the Louisville Gardens right down the street. When you combine our experienced crew, our diverse locations and our in inclusive supportive community with our top in country production, tax incentive film has the power to uplift its city, its culture and its economy. What we already know and love about Louisville. Others are learning more and more about. It’s what has brought in over $200 million in film budgets to our region over the last two years. And now it’s what has caught the attention of the Sundance Film Festival. I have attended the festival for nearly 20 years and for the last 10 years, I’ve had the honor of producing the Kentucky film reception at Sundance with many of my colleagues who I share the stage with today. The festival is rich with bold ideas. It fosters the independent spirit, diversity of voices and the re and the creative economy just like our city. It’s been my pleasure to work alongside the mayor, my esteemed fellow committee members and the Office of Arts and Creative Industries. And as I stand alongside my committee’s welcome, uh ready to welcome and show the Sundance Film Festival. What we already know Louisville is art Louisville is Sundance. Thank you. Thank you so much, Suzie. And before we take some questions from the media, I just want to thank some of the other people who have been very involved with that, very involved with this in its effort and who were involved in *** very important uh online call, Zoom call that we had with the committee uh last Thursday. Of course, I want to thank all of my deputy mayors that have been so supportive throughout this entire effort. Uh Suzanne Wright from our office, Jeff o’brien, Suma Harrow and Jessica Bene Kincaid from the Office of Arts and Creative Industry who has worked tirelessly over the past many weeks to really help get us to this point and help everybody come together to put this proposal together. You heard from Cleo uh Chris Hartman, who’s here today from the Fairness Campaign helped talk about what *** welcoming city Louisville is. Thank you, Chris for everything that you’re doing. Dan Mann and Anthony Gilmer from our Muhammad Ali International Airport are not able to join us here today, but we’re explaining to the committee about how easy it is to get to Louisville, our growing airport, one of the fastest growing airports in the country, how we’re adding more nonstop flights and how we have the opportunity at times like the Kentucky Derby when more people than typically are coming to our city, how we have the opportunity to add additional capacity to get people here from wherever they’re coming from? Mark Rubinow is here with us here today. He’s been go going to Sundance for what mark probably 30 years has been involved in the movie industry around the country. And now here in Louisville, uh Gil Holland, who’s been very involved in the film industry as well, could not join us today. Uh Cave Zaman, who’s the CEO of the official Bourbon of the Sundance Film Festival and Rabbit Hole Distillery Cave. Thank you much for being here, Mary Kay Poe with unbridled foot films, who is been producing films here in Louisville, who is also one of the developers of the Louisville Gardens project that Suzy mentioned working to transform the gardens from its current state into *** world class production studio that can host filmmakers from around the world right here in Louisville, Dean Otto with the Speed Cinema. Dean and his team at the Speed Cinema have hosted other Sundance events right here in Louisville before and Dean has *** strong connection uh with many folks from Sundance and was *** great advisor and participant uh in this uh Robert Barry Fleming as well from Actors Theater of Louisville. And what they do at Actors Theater is, is very similar in nature with the ethos and commitments that the Sundance Film Festival has as well. And from *** venue perspective, Kim Baker from the Kentucky Center for Performing Arts and David Beck from Kentucky venues. Uh Their two facilities in downtown Louisville would be critical homes uh and critical headquarter locations if we are able as we expect to do, attract the Sundance Film Festival. Uh Mike Anderson and Casey Ramage from Churchill Downs uh help how wonderful our city is at welcoming hundreds of thousands of people who are coming to our city for big events. And finally, John Berns Stel Claire Tidmore and their team at Doe Anderson who have been so helpful. They plus so many others on this committee have played such an important role in conveying the story that we all know the reasons why we love this city, the reasons why we love the city that help share them with others that don’t know nearly as much about our beloved hometown as we do. So thanks to everyone who has helped make this happen. There’s *** lot of work still to do, as I mentioned, we are all in our city is all in our state is all in and we are going to do everything necessary to bring the Sundance Film Festival to Louisville Kentucky starting in 2027. Thank you all very much. And with that, if any members of the media have any couple of questions, we’re happy to answer them now or afterwards. If that’s easier for you all talk about why should be excited about this people who are not in film. Sure, there are *** lot of reasons why everyone across the city and entire state should be excited about this first. It’s *** huge economic boost for our city. It would be bring people from all over the country and world that might not otherwise come to Louisville. They’re going to spend money in Louisville. They’re going to help create jobs in Louisville and they’re also going to help boost the brand of our city, which is going to be helpful as we look to develop our city for across the country and world. People will know about Louisville and know about what an amazing creative place it is just like we do because the Sundance Film Festival is located here. It’s also gonna enrich people’s lives. I know from my background prior to becoming mayor uh with 21 C Museum Hotel that art has *** way of getting people to see things in new ways. You can learn *** lot from art and film. You, it provokes conversations that you might not have happened and that is what happens when you’re reviewing the Independent films that Sundance Film Festival shows. So anyone in Louisville that has the opportunity to attend the Sundance Film Festival, anyone from around the state that might not otherwise be able to attend it if it were in another location will have an enriching experience that will help them lead *** more exciting, *** more fulfilling life. So from an economic perspective, from *** cultural perspective, we’re *** great fit and just as we can help Sundance grow in their next chapter, so too, will Sundance help our city and commonwealth? Yeah, so we are still in *** competitive process for this and so that information remains confidential at this point in time. Uh We need to continue to have conversations with the Sundance selection Committee. Uh We’ll of course, make that public if *** final agreement is reached, uh it would involve, as I mentioned, it would involve support from the city and the state. Uh We believe that this would be an incredible investment uh in the future of our city and state and have *** great return on investment in so many ways. Uh Because of all of the reasons that I just mentioned uh in terms of timing, the Sundance selection committee will be here later this month. Uh And we expect them to make *** decision uh not too long thereafter. We we don’t have all of that information from them, but my guess is they want to make *** decision sooner rather than later. They’ll have to provide their exact timeline of decision making. Uh, we, there may be some confidential information that’s in that just like any economic development proposal when you’re working with *** prospective, uh partner. Uh, but we will make most, if not all of that public at the conclusion of this process, we can find out. That is my understanding. Right. On timing. They told us that. Right. Yeah, that’s my understanding that they want to move quickly. Oh, yeah, there are, there are so many great venues that we have around the city. We’ve got great venues at the Kentucky Center for the performing arts. We use the Kentucky International Convention Center. The Science Center has *** great theater. Muhammad Ali Center has *** great theater, the Brown Theater. Um the speed of of course, the Speed Cinema that I just mentioned with where, where Dean Otto is uh actors Theater. There are other great spaces that we’d like to convert into theaters as well. Uh The hub of the activity for the Sundance Film Festival would be in the central business district in downtown, but we want to activate our entire city. And so there would be locations throughout the city that have exciting uh places to showcase the wonderful films of the Sundance Film Festival. That’s *** good question. I’m not watching. Uh I’ll get back to you on that. You got me on the spot. Thank you all so much. We are so excited to Welcome the Sundance Film Festival for little.

Louisville named finalist to become future host of prestigious Sundance Film Festival

Updated: 4:42 PM EDT Jul 19, 2024

The Sundance Film Festival could be leaving Utah, and Louisville has made the short list of possible relocations.Currently, the prestigious multi-day international independent film festival is held in Park City, but the contract with the city ends in a couple of years.The nonprofit Sundance Institute opened up submissions on May 7, and they’ve selected six finalists for potential future host cities for 2027 and beyond.Louisville is on that list. The others are:Atlanta, GeorgiaBoulder, ColoradoCincinnati, Ohio Park City/Salt Lake City, Utah (the current location)Santa Fe, New Mexico”Each finalist was required to demonstrate how they would welcome and continue to foster the diverse Sundance community and culture of independent creativity that is an integral part of the Institute and Festival experience,” a news release said.The organization said they believe each finalist allows them the best opportunity to secure a sustainable future for the festival, and also to build on its legacy while continuing to support the next generation of storytellers and highlight bold new works of art.The release included a statement from Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg:”The City of Louisville and its diverse arts community is proud to be a finalist city for the Sundance Film Festival. Our rich history hosting world-class events, growing film industry, and commitment to sustainability position us as a perfect stage for the Festival’s future. We are home to the greatest two minutes in sports and we are ready to host the greatest 10 days in film.”Greenberg was joined by other local and state leaders on Friday to make the announcement about Louisville being a finalist.Kentucky Senate president Robert Stivers said he will be pushing for his colleagues in the General Assembly to get on board so that Louisville could be a future host site for the festival.Others Like Sen. Gerald Neal and Metro Council president Markus Winkler also voiced their support for Louisville being a possible host site in the future.Greenberg touched on the festival’s economic impact it has had on Park City, with it bringing in more than 80,000 people in-person and 200,000 attending digitally. The estimated impact from last year’s festival was more than $200 million, according to officials.Lastly, Greenberg touched on Louisville already having ties to the art community, film specifically, with actors like Louisville native Jennifer Lawrence starring in films that have debuted at Sundance in the past.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. —

The Sundance Film Festival could be leaving Utah, and Louisville has made the short list of possible relocations.

Currently, the prestigious multi-day international independent film festival is held in Park City, but the contract with the city ends in a couple of years.

The nonprofit Sundance Institute opened up submissions on May 7, and they’ve selected six finalists for potential future host cities for 2027 and beyond.

Louisville is on that list.

The others are:

• Atlanta, Georgia
• Boulder, Colorado
• Cincinnati, Ohio
• Park City/Salt Lake City, Utah (the current location)
• Santa Fe, New Mexico

“Each finalist was required to demonstrate how they would welcome and continue to foster the diverse Sundance community and culture of independent creativity that is an integral part of the Institute and Festival experience,” a news release said.

The organization said they believe each finalist allows them the best opportunity to secure a sustainable future for the festival, and also to build on its legacy while continuing to support the next generation of storytellers and highlight bold new works of art.

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The release included a statement from Louisville Mayor Craig Greenberg:

“The City of Louisville and its diverse arts community is proud to be a finalist city for the Sundance Film Festival. Our rich history hosting world-class events, growing film industry, and commitment to sustainability position us as a perfect stage for the Festival’s future. We are home to the greatest two minutes in sports and we are ready to host the greatest 10 days in film.”

Greenberg was joined by other local and state leaders on Friday to make the announcement about Louisville being a finalist.

Kentucky Senate president Robert Stivers said he will be pushing for his colleagues in the General Assembly to get on board so that Louisville could be a future host site for the festival.

Others Like Sen. Gerald Neal and Metro Council president Markus Winkler also voiced their support for Louisville being a possible host site in the future.

Greenberg touched on the festival’s economic impact it has had on Park City, with it bringing in more than 80,000 people in-person and 200,000 attending digitally. The estimated impact from last year’s festival was more than $200 million, according to officials.

Lastly, Greenberg touched on Louisville already having ties to the art community, film specifically, with actors like Louisville native Jennifer Lawrence starring in films that have debuted at Sundance in the past.