The nonprofit behind Park City's arthouse cinema is launching a three-day film festival in October, aiming to bring filmmakers and foot traffic back to Main Street and Kimball Junction after Sundance's departure to Boulder.

Park City Film announced the inaugural Park City Film Festival on Tuesday, Aug. 4, with executive director Katharine Wang framing the event as both a cultural continuation and an economic lifeline for local businesses. The festival runs Oct. 23–25 and will screen eight films, split between four documentaries and four narrative features, plus a short film block. Filmmaker gatherings, panel discussions and post-screening Q&As round out the schedule.

"Whether your business is on Main Street or in Kimball Junction, a thriving film festival creates opportunities that benefit everyone," Wang said in the announcement.

The stakes are real. During the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, attendees spent approximately $196.1 million in Park City, according to SFGATE's reporting on a Sundance Institute economic impact analysis. That festival drew 85,472 attendees, a 17% year-over-year increase. Manny Luna, manager of O'Shucks White House on Main Street, told SFGATE that Sundance accounted for the bar's 10 busiest days of the year, with nearly four times normal business volume.

All of that spending moves to Boulder starting in 2027.

Park City Film's new event is smaller by design. Wang called it a "boutique event," with the organization planning to scale up over time. The nonprofit, established in 1995 as a project of the Arts Council of Park City & Summit County, helped create a venue for the original Sundance Film Festival that same year. It has operated Summit County's only nonprofit art house cinema for more than three decades.

The full lineup and panel schedule drop Aug. 17 at parkcityfilm.org/festival. Ticket pricing, venue details and pass information have not yet been published.