Earth Lounge is the place for filmmakers, brands, and creative professionals who know that environmentally informed storytelling of all kinds can help build the future we want.
Program Overview
3:30PM: Doors Open
Beverages available.
4:15PM: Keynote
The Great Salt Lake: The National Stakes & How Hollywood Can Help
A fireside chat with documentarian & Park City local Fletcher Keyes, Producer of the Sundance 2026 premiere, THE LAKE. (Moderator TBA)
The Great Salt Lake is drying. It’s poised to hit a historic low next year, threatening public health, economic stability, and an irreplaceable ecosystem. It’s one of the most urgent environmental stories in America— and it’s being told on screen at this year’s festival.
In this opening conversation, we’ll hear what’s at stake, what’s being done, and how storytellers can help.
4:45PM: Plot Holes, busted!
An interactive trivia game show that debunks environmental storytelling tropes. Come play – there’s audience prizes!
5:30PM: Earth Lounge Mixer
Evening beverages and plant-based bites
2026 Impact Focus: Save Our Great Salt Lake
Sundance is leaving Utah after a 40+ year stay, so we’re turning our attention to a crisis in the festival’s backyard. Through an immersive storytelling installation, we’ll activate our community in support of the Great Salt Lake—a vital ecosystem facing an urgent threat.
Local conservation partners will be on-site with ways to take action!
Presenting Partners: Come Clean, Climate Spring, Universal Film, Sustainable Entertainment Alliance, The Redford Center, and Jackson Wild.
Action Partners: Grow the Flow Utah, Great Salt Lake Hopeline
Produced by: Hollywood Climate Summit