Sundance Film Festival 2025: Your Ultimate Guide to Park City Celebrations

The Sundance Film Festival is so much more than attending movie premieres and panels. It’s also an entertainment and advertising schmooze fest, where Hollywood and Madison Avenue relocate to the ski resort town of Park City, Utah for 10 days of business-meets-pleasure-meets-live-music-meets-brand-activations-meets-skiing. Which makes for some incredible parties.

The town of Park City itself has grown significantly in recent years. The most recent addition to Main Street is Premier Park City, which offers both a lounge environment with food service and a music venue that hosts multiple DJ shows per week. Saturdays are all about house music. Deer Valley Resort also expanded its terrain with the Expanded Excellence Initiative, adding 3,700 skiable acres. The first part of this expansion opened this season with three new lifts and the five-star Grand Hyatt Deer Valley as the anchor hotel. Hyatt will be hosting a Questlove DJ set at the World of Hyatt space at 440 Main St., Park City, on January 25th from 10:00pm to 11:00pm to celebrate opening weekend of the festival.

It remains to be seen how the Los Angeles fires will impact the festival this year. As a previous resident of both Malibu and the Pacific Palisades, this unimaginable tragedy has hit close to home with friends and family alike. My hope is that Park City and Sundance can offer some respite as the fires finally subside and these communities start the long road to recovery.

Insomniac’s ‘High Altitude Event Series’

The Marquis Park City opened its doors just in time for Sundance last year. This long-running Main Street music venue, which was previously Park City Live, underwent a multi-year renovation following the pandemic. Given the tight timing of opening its doors for the first time and jumping straight into Park City’s biggest event of the year, the venue’s Sundance debut wasn’t as smooth or seamless as one would hope. But management has had a full year to dial in the guest experience, and the big news for 2025 is that powerhouse promoter Insomniac—best known for EDC Las Vegas—has stepped up to do it right and do it big.

Spanning the entirety of the Sundance Film Festival, from January 23 until February 2, Insomniac’s High Altitude Series will host a party every night at the Marquis. Each show will be headlined by a premier, international DJ/producer with support from local artists.

The Marquis is a proper music venue with multiple bars and a large dance floor on the lower level for general admission. The second floor features VIP tables that surround the dance floor on three sides and includes its own bar.

The series opens with Cloonee on Thursday, January 23. If you’re a fan of tech house, this is the show to see because no DJ or producer crushed it in 2024 like Cloonee did.

His breakout year started with a residency at LIV Las Vegas alongside John Summit and Dom Dolla along with a Coachella debut. He released a string of bangers including To The Beat, Still My Baby and Sippin’ Yak…the latter of which spurred countless remixes and has more than 25 million Spotify streams to date. In December, Cloonee finally released the tech house masterpiece that is Stephanie featuring Young M.A. The track had been seeded with top DJs through the summer and fall, so fans were more than ready to have it to themselves for Christmas. Stephanie has topped the Beatport Top 100 ever since then, aided by viral distribution on TikTok. More recently, a techno-leaning remix is making the rounds at clubs and festivals. In fact, this version was Cloonee’s opener for his New Year’s Eve set at the Proper NYE festival in San Diego.

The next must-see show is Wax Motif on January 28. Wax’s recent releases include Heaven, 212 and Shake It. Like Cloonee, Wax’s sound is tech house at its core with frequent hip-hop hooks, themes and remixes that elevate both genres to something greater than their parts.

With 11 shows to choose from and other big names like Black Coffee on January 24, Dillon Francis on January 26 and Illenium on February 1, there’s a superb EDM experience to be had at the Marquis every night of the festival.

What’s also notable about the High Altitude Series is that it will feature an esteemed list of local DJs/producers in supporting roles. These artists are the beating heart of Salt Lake City’s burgeoning nightlife scene:

Sarah Lies opens for Cloonee on 1/23; Mike Stern opens for Black Coffee on 1/24; Maplo and Obayashi open for Wax Motif on 1/28; Audeamus opens for Kaskade on 1/25; Parker Andriese opens for Seven Lions on 1/31; and Branden Estrada and Fresh Powder open for Loud Luxury on 2/2 to close out the series. Each of these artists puts on a show, so it will be worth it to turn up for the 9:00pm – 11:15 p.m. opening sets.

It’s worth noting that The Cabin is located next door to the Marquis (see below) and is the ideal place to pregame before Marquis shows.

Tao Park City

Tao Group brings its club cachet to Park City in the form of a popup at Utah Film Studios. The studio is transformed into a multi-faceted club experience with a red carpet, open bar and an array of brand activations from Ole Henriksen, Casamigos, Hendrick’s, Moët & Chandon, Whispering Angel, Rock Angel, Evian, White Claw, Q Mixers, Red Bull, PRIME and Michelob Ultra. There’s also one of those 360-degree spinning video contraptions, so there’s no shortage of Instagram- and TikTok-worthy moments.

The New York City-based hospitality brand will host two invite-only Sundance parties. The first on Friday, January 24 features hip-hop artist TYGA, whereas the second on Saturday, January 25 will have a special-guest headliner.

Since these are categorized as private parties as opposed to bars, they aren’t subject to the same liquor laws and closing hours. As such, drinks will be served well past 2:00am. And while this also means you can see an Insomniac show at the Marquis and then come to a Tao party, bear in mind these parties can reach capacity before midnight.

Although they are invite only, VIP tables may be available. For more information, you can email taoparkcity@taogroup.com.

Deer Valley’s Après-Ski ‘Slopeside Sets’

Deer Valley Resort has entered the EDM chat. The skiing-only resort, best known for its flawless groomed runs and country-club vibe, is launching an après-ski party series under the banner Slopeside Sets. The venue is a yurt known as Chute Eleven—think intimate, mountain chic—which is located at Empire Lodge with views of Deer Valley’s steepest terrain. Timed for the start of Sundance, the series features an impressive lineup of international DJs starting Saturday, January 25 with Coco & Breezy and running through Monday, February 3 with ACRAZE, an artist who’s performed at Tomorrowland and EDC, along with a residency at Wynn’s XS Nightclub in Las Vegas. In other words, Deer Valley ain’t playin’. This is legit.

Each show will run from 11:00am to 6:00pm with drinks and shareable bites. Opening DJs will play 1-3pm (if scheduled) and headliners will play 3-5pm. There are three tiers of service including Premier Tables ($4,000) with seating for six that includes three bottles of Laurent Perrier La Cuvée or Brut Rosé, one Chute Eleven seafood tower and one cheese and charcuterie board. Next is the VIP High Top ($1,500) for four guests with two bottles of Laurent Perrier La Cuvée or Brut Rosé and one seafood tower. And finally, there are general admission tickets ($150), which are pay-as-you-go for food and drinks.

Tables and tickets can be purchased for each event via the Deer Valley website. If you’re not staying at the adjacent Montage Deer Valley or skiing directly to Empire Lodge, you’ll want to use a car service (or free bus) to get to the venue, as there is no parking.

The Cabin And Downstairs

These are two of Park City’s nightlife institutions. Each is located on Main Street just a short stroll from one another. But they offer much different vibes and experiences.

The Cabin will be open throughout the festival. Again, this is the ideal spot to pregame before seeing a show at the Marquis next door. The upstairs bar area (The Lodge) features high-top tables and booths. It hosts a variety of live music ranging from local DJs and solo guitarists to raucous karaoke nights. While the lower level (The Den) is a proper concert venue with multiple bars.

The Cabin has been under new management for the past year or so. This includes the addition of Salt Lake City-based promoter Adam St. Simons as entertainment and marketing director. St. Simons brings a breadth of experience with Syndicate SLC to Park City and The Cabin. The result is more consistent music programming from up-and-coming local talent as well as established artists. If you’re looking for live music beyond just EDM and hip-hop, The Cabin has you covered. Below are some of the ticketed shows, but there is live entertainment at the The Cabin every night of the festival.

Premier Ticketed Shows:

Wednesday, January 29 – Emmit Fenn with Cecilia Hone

Alternative electronic artist Emmit Fenn, known for his emotive compositions and cinematic soundscapes, headlines with support from Utah-based indie talent Cecilia Hone.

Thursday, January 30 – Dirtwire with Simba Sax

Pioneering electro-acoustic duo Dirtwire will take over The Lodge for one of The Cabin’s most anticipated live performances during Sundance. Their fusion of folk instrumentation and electronic production makes for a hypnotic, genre-blurring experience. Simba Sax joins to elevate the set.

Friday, January 31 – Whitey Morgan

Outlaw country returns to Park City with the legendary Whitey Morgan, whose gritty, no-frills approach to country music has garnered a cult following.

Saturday, February 1 – Co-Lab (Supergroup Jam Session)

A festival-closing night for the books. Co-Lab assembles an all-star jam band featuring Jeff Franca (Thievery Corporation) on drums; Holly Bowling on keys (Goose/Grateful Dead reinterpretations); Nate Edgar (Nth Power/John Brown’s Body) on bass, Mark Joseph (The Big Wu) on vocals and guitar.

Downstairs is Park City’s one true nightclub with VIP tables and service. It’s a favorite spot for bachelorette parties, and its resident DJs include open-format legends Bangarang, DJ Juggy and DJ Dolph. The venue will be closed for private parties for most of Sundance, but it will be open to the public for a closing party on Saturday, February 1st with Scooter behind the decks.