Sundance 2025 will include 4 free screenings for Utah locals; tickets available Thursday. | News | Salt Lake City Weekly

Sundance 2025 will include 4 free screenings for Utah locals; tickets available Thursday. 

Best of Fest

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click to enlarge "Omaha," directed by Utah's Cole Webley, is one of four films that will screen for free to Utah locals during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. - SUNDANCE FILM FESTIVAL
  • Sundance Film Festival
  • "Omaha," directed by Utah's Cole Webley, is one of four films that will screen for free to Utah locals during the 2025 Sundance Film Festival.

The 2025 Sundance Film Festival will include four free in-person screenings for Utah locals, organizers announced Monday, as well as a limited number of free online screening options.

Omaha—directed by Utah's Cole Webley and primarily filmed within the Beehive State—will screen on Jan. 29 at Park City's Ray Theater, combined with the short film The Long Valley, which was co-directed by Utah-based filmmaker Robert Machoian, with Rodrigo Ojeda-Beck. And the documentary Deaf President Now! will screen on Jan. 30 at Salt Lake City's Rose Wagner Theater.

The remaining two "Best of Fest" screenings will be held at the conclusion of the festival on Feb. 2—also at The Ray and Rose Wager—and will be selected from the year's award-winning entries.

In previous years, a larger number of free screening options, and hosted at additional venues, were offered to Utah locals. Festival spokesperson Alex Courides said 2025's Local Lens and Best of Fest programming is reflective of the reduced footprint of the overall festival. (In Salt Lake City, only the Rose Wagner and Broadway theaters are slated to hold Sundance screenings).

"The program is a bit tighter this year with 88 feature films, and therefore the screening schedule has been adjusted this year," Courides said. "Every year it is standard that we make adjustments based on learnings and review the footprint for the upcoming festival."

Prior festivals relied on in-person lines at Trolley Square or utilization of the festival's wait-listing app for free locals-only screenings. But tickets to the 2025 Best of Fest and Local Lens films will be distributed online through the festival's standard ticketing system, on a first-come-first-served basis, beginning on Thursday, Jan. 16., at 10 a.m.

Prospective attendees are encouraged to create an account in advance at festival.sundance.org—as all tickets will likely be claimed during a narrow window of time. Registration includes the use of a local zip code, and screening attendees will be asked to present a Utah ID at the venues to confirm residency, Courides said.

Utah locals can also request a promo code to access one of four films screening online between Jan. 30 and Feb. 2. Those films are Sally, Speak, East of Wall and Where the Wind Comes From. The online promo codes can be requested at this link, subject to availability.

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Benjamin Wood

Benjamin Wood

Bio:
Lifelong Utahn Benjamin Wood has worn the mantle of City Weekly's news editor since 2021. He studied journalism at Utah State University and previously wrote for The Salt Lake Tribune, the Deseret News and Entertainment Weekly

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