Slamdance ‘24 will return to its first home in Park City

The Slamdance Film Festival, the upstart kid brother to the larger Sundance Film Festival, will have a new Park City location in January — and it’s back at its first home in Utah.

The festival, which will hold in-person screenings from Jan. 19 to 25, will make its headquarters and screening space in the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Park City - The Yarrow, at 1800 Park Ave., Park City, the festival announced Monday evening.

In 1995, the hotel, then just known as The Yarrow, was Slamdance’s home in its inaugural year, when a group of filmmakers whose movies weren’t chosen for Sundance decided to start their own festival. The festival has since grown into a showcase for first-time filmmakers whose work is a little further outside the mainstream than Sundance’s independent films.

Slamdance founder Peter Baxter said in a statement that “The Yarrow has always been a great space for independent filmmakers and serves as a pivotal part of Slamdance’s history as the festival’s first home in Park City, a foothold which helped launch the festival into what it is today.”

The hotel will house two screening rooms in a fully accessible, inclusive environment. The festival also will have a hall and meeting rooms for panels, discussions and networking. And there will be a filmmaker lounge, where happy hours will be hosted.

Slamdance also announced its opening night film: The documentary “One Bullet,” directed by Carol Dysinger — who won the Academy Award in 2019 for her documentary short “Learning to Skateboard in a Warzone (if you’re a girl).”

“One Bullet” tells the story of the mother of an Afghan teenager who was shot in front of his house, and died of his wounds two years later. The film, which took 18 years to make, details the scars left on the family by the son’s injury and death.

“As an artist-driven festival, Slamdance has always recognized the act of madness that some kinds of filmmaking can be — the kind that takes a different path, a longitudinal angle of view — and this is what the world needs right now,” Dysinger said in a statement.

Besides screenings at the DoubleTree/Yarrow, Slamdance will again screen its Unstoppable program — highlighting films by and about people with disabilities — at the University of Utah’s Student Union Theatre, from Jan. 22 to 24. Screenings at the U. will be free to attend.

Festival passes are on sale now, ranging from $125 to $250, at slamdance.com. Slamdance also will screen movies virtually, Jan. 22-28, on the Slamdance Channel; virtual passes are available for $50.

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