As Park City Loses a Piece of Its Identity with Sundance Film Festival’s Departure, I, too, Lose Part of Mine
By Hilary Reiter Azzaretti, Founder of Redhead Marketing & PR and Former Sundance Film Festival Press Office Worker

The curtain has closed. Today’s bombshell announcement that Sundance Film Festival will leave Park City, Utah for Boulder, Co. marks the end of an era. This hits especially hard. It feels deeply personal and has prompted me to reflect. As many know, it was the Sundance Film Festival that brought me to Park City from NYC in 2001 during a tumultuous time. September 11 had just occurred, and I had recently returned from playing in France and Denmark for the better part of a year. I knew I did not want to go back to the horrific music industry. What I did know: I was passionate for independent film AND skiing. So, imagine the thrill of landing a PR position with the 2002 Sundance Film Festival! Nothing could have been more perfect at that time in my life and young, directionless career after the music industry disappointed me. It was a quick and easy decision. Dad and I packed up the Jeep Cherokee with my ski gear and two cats to drive West for this three-month adventure that somehow became 24 years.

It’s incredible how this brief stint profoundly changed the course of my life in more ways than I can count. The experience itself was electrifying. Back then, the festival was truly focused on independent filmmaking as opposed to the Hollywood glitter it would become. Those ten days of the festival itself are now a blur, but I made lifelong friends during this time.

I never imagined that Sundance would rekindle my love for working in PR or that this experience would lead to highly visible roles in a remarkable community like Park City, ultimately resulting in a marketing and PR agency of my own. Not to mention an entirely different lifestyle than I had in NYC, the city that everyone knew ran thru my veins. I went from being Miss NYC to Miss PC without missing a beat.

Hilary and Kevin Rudolf during Sundance

Hilary and Kip Winger of 80s hard rock band Winger

Sundance even allowed me to reconnect with people from my music industry and NYC past. There was the year my childhood friend, Kevin Rudolf came out to perform. The annual Columbia University Sundance party made me feel back in my element and offset my college loans with free drinks and food. Hanna Bolte, who I knew when I was a college rep at BMG Music in the early 90s, invited me to BMI Music parties. I relished the combination of watching visionary films and seeing music legends perform in intimate venues like Joan Jett at a yoga studio (thanks Toby Mamis!) Snoop Dogg at Harry O’s, and Kip Winger at Montage Deer Valley, where I was the only one who knew every word to every Winger song he performed acoustically.

For many, the emphasis became the parties. And yes, those were fun back in the day! But for me, it was truly the excitement of seeing films that others would never have the chance to see elsewhere, or that I got to see first before they were in theaters across the country or went on to win Oscars. And the Q&As with talent after each screening were always a compelling treat. My record was seeing 28 films in a single festival.

Columbia University Sundance party

So yes, many in Park City got what they wished for today. I have always told them to be careful of that wish because in the long run they may be disappointed by the outcome. I’m trying to process what Park City will be like without Sundance. It created a decades long legacy in this community and helped put our town on the map. While local sentiment increasingly turned against the festival due to the inconveniences for those ten days, it has remained a tremendous source of pride for me to tell people I meet around the world that I live in the town that hosts the Sundance Film Festival. I won’t go into the political and financial reasons that may have led to the festival’s departure to Boulder as that’s being hashed out enough on social media. One thing is undeniable: As Park City loses Sundance as part of its identity, I, too, feel that loss to part of mine.

Thanks for the memories, Sundance and Bob (aka Robert Redford), and cheers to a big send off in 2026!

Hilary with Joan Jett following her performance at The Shop Yoga studio in Park City