An 8th-grade Colorado Jewish student was called a ‘stupid k***’ while being strangled by a laptop charging cord, in one of many antisemitic assaults by other students described in a Title VI complaint to Boulder Valley Public School District.
Colorado
As Sundance said goodbye to Utah, its Colorado connections became clear
PARK CITY, UTAH — The evening before the Sundance Film Festival kicked off its final appearance in Utah, Amy Redford stood on a temporary stage in a temporary gathering space and addressed a roomful of people.
“My dad loved this place and its people,” she said of her father, Robert Redford, and the state where, for more than 40 years, the Sundance Institute — with its series of labs for emerging filmmakers — and the festival have shaped the film industry, and to some extent American culture.
Boulder City Council approves $17.3 million incentives package for Sundance
Robert Redford died last September at 89, and his absence, as well as his vision, permeated this installment of the first festival without the Sundance Kid turned Elder Statesman. It’s hard to decide if it was fitting or a poetic injustice that Redford will not be following the festival to Colorado, a state he knew well, where Sundance will move in January 2027.
Colorado, though, is a state he knew well. Redford had, at one time, wanted to start his film festival in Colorado before heading to Utah. “Even though Bob Redford enjoyed a successful acting and directing career, he was never just content to rest on those laurels. He believed that with space to create and experiment, independent artists were poised to have a tremendous impact,” Ebs Burnough, chair of the board of trustees, told a roomful of film writers and journalists.
“And of course, he was right. To this day, artists who get their start at the Sundance Institute and at the film festival go on to shape storytelling, independent cinema, and our collective culture. And that has never mattered more than it does in this moment, when we need the empathy and inspiration and new perspectives independent storytelling provides,” he added.
Place is a funny thing. The wilderness of Utah, coupled with the intimacy of the ski town, served and shaped the festival well for decades — and vice versa. Now it moves to a new location at the foot of the Flatirons and adjacent to the Rockies. Boulder is beautiful, but as a city, it has a wholly different aura. And it has a university and a tech corridor.
Fortunately, Sundance hired the Boulder-based producer Paula DuPré Pesmen (“The Cove,” “Chasing Ice,” “Porcelain War”) to help envision the transition.
In the meantime, here are four things (there’s plenty more) to know about the globally renowned festival that concludes Sunday and the one headed to Colorado in January 2027.
Colorado represented
Colorado was represented a couple of times this year. “See You When I See You,” a Jay Duplass-directed film, premiered at Sundance. It is based on beloved Denver stand-up Adam Cayton-Holland’s 2018 book, “Tragedy Plus Time: A Tragi-Comic Memoir,“ about grief and his sister’s suicide. It stars David Duchovny, Hope Davis and Cooper Raiff and Kaitlyn Dever as siblings.
Then there was writer-director Ramzi Bashour, who in 2023 was among the cohort of young filmmakers working on their first feature during the Sundance Directors Lab, held at the Stanley Hotel in Estes Park. His debut feature, “Hot Water” — about a Lebanese mother and her son’s westward road trip — premiered in the U.S. Dramatic competition.
And the band DeVotchKa — with its roots in Colorado — returned to the place that launched them, as the festival celebrated the 20th anniversary of “Little Miss Sunshine.” “Yeah, everybody always says, ‘Man, I can’t believe it’s 20 years that flew by,’” frontman Nick Urata shared on a voice email. “But in this case, I have to say it doesn’t feel like that because that screening at Sundance 20 years ago was literally the first day of the rest of our lives. It was definitely the birth of our career as a band.”
They’d been touring and 21 years ago had self-released the album “How It Ends.” “Luckily, we got some airtime on listener-funded NPR stations, one of them being KCRW in L.A. And one morning they were playing us our song called “You’d Love Me,” he continued. “And Jonathan [Dayton] and Valerie [Faris], the directors, happened to hear it, and it sparked something. They got in touch with us about possibly using our music and doing some of the score for us. That is the coolest part of this whole story. The fact that those songs were released to little fanfare independently, and then it was repackaged along with this beautiful film, and the same exact songs were on the soundtrack album, and it got a Grammy nomination.”
Making young filmmakers household names
The Sundance labs are “a sneak peek at the artists you might see here … in the future,” Redford said in her speech. The next morning proved her prescient. When the Oscar nominations were announced, Sundance was well represented. Writer-director Ryan Coogler’s “Sinners” made history with 16 nominations. Nipping at its heels was Paul Thomas Anderson’s “One Battle After Another,” with 13. Chloe Zhao’s “Hamnet” garnered eight.
All three directors developed their first features in the Directors Lab: Coogler with “Fruitvale Station,” which starred his actor muse Michael B. Jordan; Anderson with the film that became “Hard Eight,” Zhao with “Songs My Brothers Taught Me,” set on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. And then there’s last year’s mournfully gorgeous meditation on a changing west, “Train Dreams,” which had four nominations, including Best Picture. The Oscar-nominated “Come See Me In the Good Light,” the tear-jerking, laugh-evoking documentary about the late Colorado Poet Laureate, Andrea Gibson, and her wife, the poet Megan Falley, as they faced Gibson’s cancer diagnosis, also won a nomination.
Colorado’s documentary filmmakers rule
Another world premiere was Daniel Roher and Charlie Tyrell’s “The AI Doc: Or How I Became an Apocaloptimist.” As engaging as it is terrifying, the doc about the reasonable existential dread AI has engendered in some, including director Roher, was produced by Colorado-based filmmaker Shane Boris and multi-hyphenate Ted Tremper (“Borat Subsequent Moviefilm,” “The Daily Show.”)
“We did the film with the intention of making a work that would be engaging, that could bring people into this issue,” said Boris. “But, also with like clarifying very complicated topics in a very short amount of time and in a way that gave people a sense of agency in a moment where it feels like everything is just happening to us as opposed to us.”
In his young career, Boris has an Oscar for “Navalny” and two nominations for “Fire of Love” and “The Edge of Democracy.” The movie, which demanded a deft editor, had two: Daysha Broadway and Denver’s own Davis Coombe, a Primetime Emmy winner for Jeff Orlowski’s social-media indictment, “The Social Dilemma.”
In one fell swoop, Colorado became a global film hub
While Sundance will be Colorado’s — heck, the country’s — biggest film fest in 2027, it arrives in a place that already has a rich film festival tradition. Shoutout to XicanIndie Film, Fest Durango Film Festival, Mountain Film, the Dragon Boat Film Festival, Rocky Mountain Women’s Film, the Boulder International Film Festival, the Denver Film Festival, and more. In fact, the Denver Film Festival had one of its best-attended iterations last November and will soon celebrate its 50th anniversary.
Sundance also arrives in Colorado at a time when the state is undergoing changes. Earlier this month, Gov. Jared Polis and the Colorado Office of Economic Development and International Trade announced the state’s new film commissioner: Lauren
Grimshaw Sloan, whose time at SeriesFest means she knows the ins and outs of festivals. The one-two punch of Sundance and the Telluride Film Festival (over Labor Day weekend) have seemingly made Colorado a global film destination.
At the end of her festival-eve comments, Redford encouraged the gathered. “Let’s make it a great festival celebration, remembrance and hope for all that is possible,” she said.
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.
Denver Post writers have explored Colorado’s many corners and offer ways to find fun, relaxation or something new for summer. Take a look at how you can expand your possibilities this season if you’re keeping travel close to home this year.
In the mountains
Colorado’s 10 most popular hikes, according to AllTrails
Colorado waterfall hike: Copeland Falls best this time of year in early morning
This hiking trail near Red Rocks will help you get in shape for 14er season
Gorgeous Colorado hike reopens this summer with new rules for hiking, camping, human waste
An Estes Park getaway can be about more than just the outdoors
Camping
Gorgeous Colorado hike reopens this summer with new rules for hiking, camping, human waste
Forest service now charging $20 for dispersed camping in Homestake Valley
Within driving distance
These adult summer retreats can help Coloradans escape burnout
Big balloons will rise above Colorado’s heat this summer; watch ’em soar or take a ride
Looking for beach vibes? Here’s where to find them in landlocked Colorado
Movie-theater hotel adds vintage Airstreams, Quonset huts in San Luis Valley
Sleep in a treehouse, hike with llamas, stargaze and more summer whimsy
Pick your own flowers at these farms and garden centers in Colorado
Is city fishing safe? Yes, experts say, but there are updated guidelines to follow.
Big balloons will rise above Colorado’s heat this summer; watch ’em soar or take a ride
Here’s where to fish with kids near Denver
Summer fun
Biodegradable pickleballs, size-inclusive skorts made in Colorado and other sports gear we love
More women are playing padel than ever — and for good reason
Meet the Boulder dogs cast in this summer’s Colorado Shakespeare Festival
Gravel biking events are a hot commodity in Colorado this summer
Want to get off your phone? Learn blacksmithing or floral design at these Colorado classes and makerspaces.
Beyond Colorado
10 tree-house hotels in the U.S. for you to commune with nature in comfort
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter, In The Know, to get entertainment news sent straight to your inbox.
Colorado Buffaloes coach Deion Sanders has an overall record of 16-21 since taking over in Boulder prior to the 2023 season.
Where does Coach Prime rank among Big 12 coaches entering the 2026 college football season?
Deion Sanders No.15 in Big 12 Coach Rankings
On3 ranked all 16 Big 12 head football coaches heading into 2026. Deion Sanders is ranked No.15, only ahead of Kansas State Wildcats coach Collin Klein. This will be Klein’s first year as Wildcats head coach. He is a former Kansas State quarterback was most recently the offensive coordinator for the Texas A&M Aggies.
A top this ranking at No. 1 is BYU Cougars coach Kalani Sitake. Sitake has been at the helm for the Cougars since 2016. He has accumulated an overall record of 84-45. In four of Sitake’s 10 seasons with BYU, he has led them to double digit wins.
Here is the entire ranking:
1. Kalani Sitake, BYU Cougars
2. Kenny Dillingham, Arizona State Wildcats
3. Joey McGuire, Texas Tech Red Raiders
4. Sonny Dykes, TCU Horned Frogs
5. Willie Fritz, Houston Cougars
6. Lance Leipold, Kansas Jayhawks
7. Rich Rodriguez, West Virginia Mountaineers
8. Eric Morris, Oklahoma State Cowboys
9. Brent Brennan, Arizona Wildcats
10. Dave Aranda, Baylor Bears
11. Scott Satterfield, Cincinatti Bearcats
12. Morgan Scalley, Utah Utes
13. Scott Frost, UCF Knights
14. Jimmy Rogers, Iowa State Cyclones
15. Deion Sanders, Colorado Buffaloes
16. Collin Klein, Kansas State Wildcats
Is 15th a fair ranking for Coach Prime?
What stands out right away from this is a first time collegiate head coach is ahead of Sanders, Morgan Scalley. While Sanders’ team struggled in 2025, it would be hard to rank him behind Scalley.
When Sanders was hired, the Buffaloes were coming off a one-win 2022 season. It was a controversial hire, as Sanders’ collegiate coaching experience came at the FCS level with Jackson State. The Coach Prime era in Boulder got off to a great start.
In 2023, Colorado began the season 3-0. It got going with a stunning season opening upset on the road against the defending national runner-up TCU Horned Frogs. The Buffs won their next two games against the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Colorado State Rams to get to 3-0.
They hosted ESPN’s College GameDay for their in-state rivalry game against Colorado State. The country had their eyes on what Sanders had cooking. This undefeated came to a screeching halt with a road loss to Oregon. Colorado ended up losing eight of their final nine games to end with a record of 4-8. While the end was dissapoitning, it was still three more wins than the previous season.
2024 a major turnaround. The Buffs went 9-3 and made the Alamo Bowl. Buffs’ wide receiver/cornerback Travis Hunter won the 2024 Heisman Trophy and quarterback Shedeur Sanders was named 2024 Big 12 Offensive Player of the Year.
2025 was more of what 2023 was. The Buffs went 3-9, missing a bowl game for the second time in three seasons. Will they get back to a bowl in 2026?
Sign up to our free newsletter and follow us on Facebook for the latest news.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleFollow
The ADL (the Anti-Defamation League) has filed a federal civil rights complaint with the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging that Jewish Student A was subjected to repeated antisemitic bullying, slurs, and physical assault by multiple fellow students at Southern Hills Middle School (SHMS) throughout 7th and 8th grade.
In one incident, students in Student A’s PE class attempted to play a game called “Jew touch tag” and said Jews were “dirty” and “contaminated.”
In another, in December 2025, a classmate reportedly fashioned a Chromebook charging cord into a lasso, threw it around the student’s neck and dragged him backward from a chair while calling him a “stupid k***.” This was deemed severe enough that the Boulder Police Department was called in to investigate.
Following this particular incident, the Boulder Police Department opened a Juvenile Court Referral for third-degree assault.
ADL says no meaningful action taken by school district over assault
As a result of these incidents, Student A no longer wears a Star of David necklace and does not share his religious identity with anyone.
ADL and the family allege that the school took no meaningful action despite being informed of the situation on multiple occasions. For example, the complaint says the school failed to enforce the no-contact order between Student A and the classmate involved in the Chromebook assault.
The complaint also says that the burden was consistently placed on the victim, such as reassigning his study hall class rather than restricting the aggressor, forcing him to miss a school trip, and asking him to leave class early to avoid crowded hallways.
“The record here is overwhelming: written pleas from the student’s parents, formal school reports, and a police investigation all point to the conclusion that antisemitic harassment at Southern Hills Middle School was pervasive, escalating, and severe,” said James Pasch, ADL Vice President of Litigation.
“Despite the family’s pleas for help to stop the harassment, the school district failed to effectively address it, a clear violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. No family should have to fight this hard to ensure a Jewish child’s safety at school, and certainly no Jewish student should face the threat of assault or harassment because of their Jewish identity.”
Susan Rona, ADL Mountain States Regional Director, noted that 167 antisemitic incidents were recorded in Colorado in 2025, a “stark reminder that antisemitism is not something abstract – it is showing up in our communities, in our neighborhoods and even in our schools.”
ADL is requesting that the US Department of Education require the district to take steps to comply with Title VI and ensure that this student and all Jewish students feel safe and protected.
Boulder Valley School District said that while it does not comment on ongoing legal matters, “we take all allegations of discrimination and harassment seriously.”
“We continue to focus on improvements to our policies, reporting systems, practices, and education efforts – all with the goal of ensuring every BVSD student feels safe, welcomed, and a strong sense of belonging.”
-
Pittsburg, PA22 seconds agoPirates Trade Analysis: Something Had to Give
-
Augusta, GA6 minutes agoAugusta Dream Center sees surge in families needing food as summer begins
-
Washington, D.C8 minutes agoNational Geographic Explorers share their most memorable adventures ahead of new DC museum opening
-
Cleveland, OH15 minutes agoLOOK: Remembering the Cavs championship win, victory parade 10 years later
-
Austin, TX23 minutes agoJuneteenth celebrations in Austin include parade and fun run
-
Alabama26 minutes agoGov. Kay Ivey sets execution date for Jeremy Williams
-
Alaska31 minutes ago8 Prettiest Downtown Strips In Alaska
-
Arizona38 minutes agoFounding Fathers-themed ice cream parlor makes Arizona debut
