On Wednesday, Sundance Institute issued its announcement that it would be moving its first fully hybrid Sundance Film Festival to an “online-only” event due to the surge of the Omicron variant.

For nearly forty years, the Sundance Institute has held the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah to help support artists and introduce their work to audiences, creating a community around independent storytelling.

The announcement was made by Sundance Institute CEO Joana Vicente and festival director Tabitha Jackson, who have shared the festival’s alternative plans for this year’s 2022 festival, which is still anticipated to take place on January 20 and will go for 11 straight days with purely online programming.

“We have been looking forward to our first fully hybrid Sundance Film Festival and our teams have spent a year planning a festival like no other,” the announcement stated, continuing “…but despite the most ambitious protocols, the Omicron variant with its unexpectedly high transmissibility rates is pushing the limits of health safety, travel and other infrastructures across the country.”

The Sundance Film Festival has introduced global audiences to some of the most groundbreaking films of the past three decades, including Flee, CODA, Passing, Summer Of Soul (…or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, On The Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me By Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs and sex, lies, and videotape.

The GRAMMYs Are Postponed…Again

Similarly, the 64th Grammy Awards ceremony which was scheduled for January 31st also changed its plans, according to a recent announcement by CBS and the Recording Academy.

“Given the uncertainty surrounding the Omicron variant, holding the show on January 31st simply contains too many risks. We look forward to celebrating Music’s Biggest Night on a future date, which will be announced soon,” the Grammy website says.

Last year, the 63rd Grammy Awards ceremony was also postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, and awkwardly held in March without a live audience. At no surprise, viewership for the 2021 award show hit a record low.

PopWrapped will continue to keep you updated as we are provided more information. For more of Lorenzo’s work, please click here and follow him on Twitter at @lorenzorusin.