Following Sundance Film Festival’s announcement, Slamdance Film Festival 2022 is also responding to increasing concerns around the Omicron variant by canceling the in-person portion of the upcoming festival and moving completely virtual. The festival will now start a week later on January 27 and run through February 6, 2022.

Read the announcement from Slamdance Film Festival.

Due to concerns around the Omicron variant, and for the safety of its staff, filmmakers, and audience, the Slamdance Film Festival will forgo the in-person portion of its hybrid event in Park City, which was scheduled to run January 20-23. Slamdance will continue its virtual festival program with an accessible and robust lineup of virtual screenings, events, and live Q&A’s running January 27-February 6, 2022.

The January 27 start date is a week later than originally planned, which allows the festival team to transition many of the events that were planned for the physical edition to the online format.

“Although we are disappointed that we won’t be able to participate in the communal, in-person experience, we know we can create a unique festival experience for all of our filmmakers through Slamdance’s online platform.” Said Peter Baxter, Slamdance President and Co-Founder. “We are looking forward to utilizing the expertise we’ve already gained in attracting a global audience, building upon our accessibility goals and pushing the boundaries of what a decentralized festival can be.”