{"id":33316,"date":"2026-01-30T01:26:23","date_gmt":"2026-01-30T06:26:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316"},"modified":"2026-01-30T01:26:23","modified_gmt":"2026-01-30T06:26:23","slug":"sundance-without-redford","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316","title":{"rendered":"Sundance without Redford"},"content":{"rendered":"\r\n

Nobody ever considered Robert Redford a \u201chorror icon,\u201d but neither the Saw<\/strong><\/a> or V\/H\/S<\/strong><\/a> franchises would be what they are today without the buzz they generated at the Sundance Film Festival, famously founded by Redford. From its inception, the festival quickly emerged as launching pad for important films and talented filmmakers, of all genres.

The actor-director was a Westerner through-and-through (he was both Jermiah Johnson<\/strong><\/a> and the Sundance Kid<\/strong><\/a>) so naturally he founded the festival and the institute that manages it in the Rocky Mountains of Utah. Next year will be the first year the festival moves from Park City (and several surrounding Utah cities), to Boulder, Colorado. As it happens, Redford attended the University of Colorado-Boulder for over a year (before politely agreeing to leave), so the festival\u2019s relocation could have been a full circle moment. Regardless, a Sundance without Redford definitely constitutes the end of an era, so it makes sense to take stock of his life and Sundance legacy during the final festival<\/a> that he advised during the planning stages.

\"\"Of course, Redford did not hand select every film that screened at Sundance, but he was an active presence at each festival (at least during the ten years I attended as credentialed press, 2011-2020). Every festival opened with the founder\u2019s press conference that were part hype sessions and partly just an opportunity to gawk in amazement at Redford. Celebrities constantly trudged up and down hilly Main Street (which is quite steep, especially if you are not yet accustomed to the altitude), but whenever the crowds spotted Redford, you could hear the whispered excitement.

Redford had presence, right from the start. That is why young Redford was so perfect for one of his most enduring television performances, as Harold Beldon, a.k.a. Death, on The Twilight Zone<\/strong><\/a> episode \u201cNothing in the Dark,\u201d who was literally frighteningly handsome. Yet, Redford projected the perfect sensitivity to reassure elderly Wanda Dunn that he would give her the peaceful rest she truly needs.

\"\"Ironically, Redford portrayed a very different agent of death fifty-two years later in Charlie McDowell\u2019s 2017 Sundance premiere, The Discovery<\/strong><\/a>. Announcing he has proved the existence of the afterlife, Redford\u2019s Dr. Thomas Harber inadvertently induces waves of suicides by people desperate for a fresh start. (Even though it was produced by Netflix, The Discovery<\/strong> remains an unjustly overlooked example of vintage late-career Redford.)

<\/ins>

In the early days of the festival (originally known as the U.S. Film and Video Festival, until it adopted the Sundance name in 1991), the chance to hit Park City\u2019s slopes at the peak of ski season helped bolster its appeal. Until recently, official screenings were also held at the Sundance Mountain Resort, which Redford owned until 2020. However, requesting Sundance Mountain press tickets was a rookie mistake, because the resort was a 45-minute drive from Park City, without a regular bus connection. Regardless, linking the festival to ski culture made sense for Redford, the avid sportsman and the star of Michael Ritchie\u2019s Downhill Racer<\/strong><\/a>, in which he portrayed a cocky young Olympic hopeful (sort of like a Days of Thunder<\/strong><\/a> on skis).

\"\"The Festival really hit its stride in the late 1980\u2019s and early 1990s, thanks to programming either the world or American premieres of breakout independent films and documentaries, including Stephen Soderbergh\u2019s Sex, Lies, and Videotape<\/a><\/strong> (1989), Whit Stillman\u2019s Metropolitan<\/a> (1990), Robert Rodriguez\u2019s El Mariachi<\/strong><\/a> (1992), Quentin Tarantino\u2019s Reservoir Dogs<\/strong><\/a> (1994), Steve James\u2019 Hoop Dreams<\/strong><\/a> (1994), and Kevin Smith\u2019s Clerks<\/strong><\/a> (1994).

Thanks to Redford and Sundance, \u201cindependent film\u201d gained cool cachet in the 1990s. Instead of a liability, a film\u2019s origins outside the Hollywood establishment became a marketing draw and a badge of honor. Yet, Redford, the godfather of independent film, demonstrated his own independence by playing secret bad guy Alexander Pierce in the Marvel behemoths, Captain America: The Winter Soldier<\/strong><\/a> and Avengers: Endgame<\/strong><\/a>, at the height of the MCU\u2019s popularity.

\"\"Logically, given the Rocky Mountain setting, Sundance often reflected Redford\u2019s passion for nature and the outdoors, with selections like Lucy Walker\u2019s The Crash Reel<\/strong><\/a> (profiling snowboarder Kevin Pearce), Jimmy Chin & Elizabeth Chai Vasahelyi\u2019s Audience Award-winning mountaineering doc Meru<\/strong><\/a>, Luc Jacquet\u2019s hit nature documentary March of the Penguins<\/strong><\/a>, and Otto Bell\u2019s visually stunning The Eagle Huntress<\/strong><\/a>.

Although Redford\u2019s classic ode to fly fishing, A River Runs Through It<\/strong><\/a> was technically never an official Sundance selection, it screened as a special fundraiser for the Sundance Institute, so maybe it warrants an asterisk. However, Ken Kwapis\u2019s adaptation of Bill Bryson\u2019s autobiographical A Walk in the Woods<\/strong><\/a> premiered at the Festival, notably starring Redford as the Appalachian Trail-hiking Bryson.

\"\"Not surprisingly, Redford\u2019s concern for nature often manifested in environmental activism, which was also reflected in many green-themed Sundance selections. Perhaps the most notable (or infamous) would be Davis Guggenheim\u2019s An Inconvenient Truth<\/strong><\/a>, which punched-up Al Gore\u2019s global warming lectures. Yet, in 2013, the Festival resisted dogmatism, by screening Robert Stone\u2019s Pandora\u2019s Promise<\/strong><\/a>, which made a cogent case for nuclear power as the only truly safe, reliable, and cost-effective form of green energy.

Indeed, Sundance represented a full-service festival during the 2010\u2019s, programming films from across a relatively broad ideological spectrum. For instance, Lee Tamahori\u2019s The Devil\u2019s Double<\/strong><\/a> depicted the insanity and brutality of Saddam Hussein and his sons, through the eyes of Latif Yahia, the unfortunate man forced to serve as Uday Hussein\u2019s body-double. Like an Iraqi Scarface, Tamahori\u2019s film is a kinetic, drug-fueled thriller that in no way excuses, justifies, or minimizes the crimes of the Husseins (leaving most of the audience speechless at the 2011 press & industry screening I attended).

<\/ins>

Even more timely, Sundance programmed Anabel Rodriguez Rio\u2019s documentary Once Upon a Time in Venezuela<\/strong><\/a>, which exposed the poverty Venezuelans endure due to the rampant corruption of the Chavist regime. Frustratingly, it has yet to receive a proper theatrical release, despite overwhelmingly positive reviews.

Likewise, several Sundance selections provide useful context for understanding the recent protests in Iran and the regime\u2019s violent crackdown. In fact, Ali Samadi Ahadi\u2019s partially animated documentary The Green Wave<\/strong><\/a> chronicling the 2009 street demonstration should remind us of the Iranian people have long rejected their oppressive government\u2019s dubious claims to legitimacy.

Sundance narrative dramas also explored the current regime\u2019s homophobia in narrative dramas, like Iranian-born Maryam Keshavarz\u2019s Circumstance<\/strong><\/a> and Algerian filmmaker Amor Hakkar\u2019s A Few Days of Respite<\/strong><\/a>. Both films seem even more relevant today than when they screened at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival. Consequently, it is a shame Hakkar\u2019s quiet but deeply humanistic film never really scored proper American theatrical release.

\"\"Throughout its existence, Sundance has generated sensational buzz for films that opportunely tapped into the cultural zeitgeist. The timing was perfect for Jordan Peele\u2019s Get Out<\/strong><\/a> (a 2017 Sundance premiere), because of the way it satirized white liberal racism through a horror prism. Arguably, The Blair Witch Project<\/strong><\/a> became the first film to \u201cgo viral\u201d at the 1999 Festival, launching the found footage genre as we now know it, on the way to claiming the title of the top-grossing indie film of all time, with a $248 million gross.

Yet, Redford could identify with the phenomenon. At the youthful age of 56, he became a media sensation all over again, due to his role in Adrian Lyne\u2019s provocative Indecent Proposal<\/strong><\/a>. For weeks, late night talk show viewers had to sit through jokes that essentially restated the contention that a lot of women would need much less than one million dollars to convince them to spend a night with the superstar.

\"\"Arguably, Redford\u2019s IMDb page is somewhat misleading. Admittedly, he has extensive producer and \u201cthanks\u201d credits. Yet, there is no listing for him on many films that largely owe their cultural footprints to the momentum they built at Sundance, such as Jared Hess\u2019s Napoleon Dynamite<\/strong><\/a> and Jason Ritman\u2019s Juno<\/a>. Plus, there are the legion of films that received early incubator support from the Sundance Institute, such as this year\u2019s Academy Award nominee Train Dreams<\/strong><\/a>.

Yet, it is Redford\u2019s star presence that will be most missed. He was the president and founder of Sundance, but he carried himself like the chairman of the board. Redford couldn\u2019t possibly micromanage every aspect of such a large enterprise, but he clearly took an active interest, especially during festival time. He was the guiding light of independent film, yet Redford was also one of the last true movie stars. He will be missed, particularly in Park City.<\/p>\r\n

If you like the article, share your thoughts below.<\/strong><\/p>\r\n

Check out more of Joe’s Articles\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\r\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobody ever considered Robert Redford a \u201chorror icon,\u201d but neither the Saw or V\/H\/S franchises would be what they are today without the buzz they generated at the Sundance Film Festival, famously founded by Redford. From its inception, the festival quickly emerged as launching pad for important films and talented filmmakers, of all genres. The…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3048,"featured_media":33326,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[32,20471],"tags":[3655,2235],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSundance without Redford | Cinema Daily US<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Robert Redford's legacy as a movie star and the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, the final fest he oversaw before his death\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sundance without Redford | Cinema Daily US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Robert Redford's legacy as a movie star and the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, the final fest he oversaw before his death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Cinema Daily US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-30T06:26:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/maxresdefault-5.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joe Bendel\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joe Bendel\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316\",\"name\":\"Sundance without Redford | Cinema Daily US\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/maxresdefault-5.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-30T06:26:23+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-30T06:26:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd5e84541d704862031445c10bb51ca4\"},\"description\":\"Robert Redford's legacy as a movie star and the founder of the Sundance Film Festival, the final fest he oversaw before his death\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/maxresdefault-5.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/maxresdefault-5.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=33316#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Sundance without Redford\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/\",\"name\":\"Cinema Daily US\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/fd5e84541d704862031445c10bb51ca4\",\"name\":\"Joe Bendel\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Joe-Bendel-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Joe-Bendel-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Joe Bendel\"},\"description\":\"Based in New York, Joe Bendel has reviewed film, television, music, and theater for nineteen years, in print and online. In addition to his site, J.B. Spins, he frequently contributes reviews to The Epoch Times, specializing in mystery\/thriller series, documentaries, and Asian cinema. As a critic he has attended in-person international film festivals, including Sundance, Slamdance, Fantasia, and the New York Film Festival, as officially accredited press. He has also written for Nightfire, Libertas Film Magazine, and Signal to Noise (the dearly departed experimental music print magazine). He has over twenty-five years of experience in the book publishing industry and has taught film and music survey courses at NYU\u2019s School of Continuing Studies. Bendel also coordinated the Jazz Foundation of America\u2019s instrument donation drive for musicians displaced by Hurricane Katrina. 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He is a graduate of Wittenberg University and the University of Denver Publishing Institute.","url":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?author=3048"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3048"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=33316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33316\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/33326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=33316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=33316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=33316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}