As omicron continues driving a spike in COVID-19 cases across the globe, Sundance Film Festival has updated the requirements for the January festival.
Those planning on attending the 2022 Sundance film festival in-person in Park City, Utah will now be required to get their booster COVID-19 vaccine, if eligible, prior to arriving at the event, organizers said Thursday. The previous requirement outlined that attendees would have to be fully vaccinated with either a two-dose series of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna vaccine or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
All attendees will need to show vaccine status on-site at what the festival is callings its Vaccine Verification and Testing Hub. Once shown, each participant will be provided a wristband that will need to be worn at all times at the festival.
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The festival previously outlined plans to provide testing on-site in Park City and Thursday’s announcement offered more details. Free testing will be offered by the festival at three locations — Kearns Bonanza Corner, Miners Hospital, and the Galleria Parking Lot — in Park City, running at these various locations from Jan. 17-30 from 8 am to 11 pm. Both PCR and rapid antigen tests will be offered at these sites, which will be open to everyone in Park City, festivalgoers or not. Test results from the festival hub will be delivered to participants via email.
As previously outlined by the festival, in order to pick up Sundance badges, press, industry members, and artists will be required to test upon arrival or show a negative COVID test taken within 48 hours prior to arrival. For all festival-operated private events, proof of a negative COVID-19 test taken within 48 hours prior to the event is required. Those participating in Q&As, programming, and press lines will be required to take additional testing. As noted earlier by the festival, if any individual tests positive, the individual will not be permitted to attend the event and is required to quarantine for 10 days.
While they will be required to be vaccinated and boosted, for the general public testing prior to arrival will not be required.
Other new protocols include limited capacity in movie screenings. Masks will be required in all screenings, and eating and drinking will no longer be allowed inside theaters. While Utah does not have a current indoor masking policy in place, the festival is advising that masks be worn indoors at all gatherings, with masks required at all venues and events operated by the festival and festival sponsors.
Should a festival attendee test positive while on the ground in Park City at any time, Utah state guidance is such that the person will have to isolate and quarantine for 10 days. Festival insiders have suggested to some in-person attendees that they consider contingencies in terms of lodging and transportation should they test positive during the festival.
In the past week, multiple in-person industry events, including the Palm Springs Film Festival’s awards gala, the AFI Awards, the Academy’s Governors Awards, and the Critics Choice Awards have either been canceled or postponed due to the rise of COVID-19 cases buoyed by the omicron variant.
The 2022 Sundance Film Festival is set to run from Jan. 20-30 and will be offered in a hybrid format, both in-person and virtually. The new protocols and other information regarding the 2022 Sundance Film Festival can be found on the festival website.
