Sundance Source: Where it all began

After stopping by the Sundance Channel HQ, take a short drive to the place where it all began, Sundance Resort. The resort was started by Robert Redford in 1969 and is the birthplace of all things Sundance. It’s a great place to take in a film, have an amazing meal, listen to Live Music in [...]

Interview: Robert Redford

“O.K., what’s up?” This is how Robert Redford, i.e. The Most Important Person on The Planet, as far as the Sundance Film Festival is concerned, starts a conversation. It’s Friday afternoon, and he’s just finished an interview for Sundance Channel, is about to dash off to do God knows what (judging by the number of [...]

Redford: No Plans to Retire

It honestly hadn’t occurred to us to be concerned that Robert Redford might retire and hand over the Sundance Film Festival reins anytime soon, but now we really don’t have to worry about it. In response to a reporter’s inquiry about retirement plans at the opening press conference for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival on [...]

Sundance’s Cooper credits Utah for bravery

Do we have the good people of Utah to thank for last year’s Sundance Film Festival reboot, in which director John Cooper and founder Robert Redford brushed away Hollywood commercialism like a light dusting of snow and returned the festival to its gritty indie roots, a reorientation they plan to continue this year? That may [...]

Sundance Film Festival: Be There … if you’re serious about indie film

Last year, the Sundance Film Festival made a point of returning to its indie roots, away from glitzy Hollywood fare and back to the riskier films on which it made its name. In keeping with this back-to-basics approach, the 2010 festival played on themes of renewal, rebirth, rebellion … “ReWork.” So what to make of [...]

Robert Redford Receives “Legion d’Honneur” from France’s President Sarkozy

Robert Redford (R) with President Sarkozy (L). (Photo by FRANCOIS MORI/AFP/Getty Images) OCTOBER 14, 2010-(Paris, France)- Robert Redford received one of France’s most highly esteemed recognitions today in Paris, the emblem of the “Légion d’Honneur” established by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1802.   Redford was acknowledged for his work as actor and director, his decades long involvement [...]

CRUDE Legal Defense Fundraiser at IFC Center: Tuesday, June 22 at 8pm

CRUDE (Legal Defense Fundraiser) Tues, June 22 @ 8 pm IFC CENTER Q&A w/ director Joe Berlinger, attorney Maura Wogan, Morgan Spurlock, Michael Winship (WGA East) Tickets are $16 (all proceeds go to Berlinger’s legal defense fund) Tickets now on sale | More info To support Berlinger’s legal defense fund and shine additional light on [...]

‘The Fix:’ Dirty Energy’s Undue Influence on American Political Life

The glove-covered hands of Dan Howells, deputy campaign director with Greenpeace, are coated with a layer of oil after he dipped them in oil floating on the surface in the Gulf of Mexico following the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill near Grand Isle, Louisiana, June 10, 2010. AFP PHOTO / Saul LOEB (Photo credit should read SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty Images)

Like most Americans, I am horrified by the unending catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. Even with the latest containment cap in place, oil is likely to hemorrhage from BP’s ruptured well until August or beyond.

As I try to convey in my new video, “The Fix,” I am appalled by what this spill is doing to Gulf fishermen, families, communities and wildlife. But I am also disgusted by what it reveals about the oil industry’s role in American political life.

With their deep pockets, oil companies have purchased loose safety regulations, slack oversight and support from key lawmakers. Last year alone, the industry spent a $168 million on lobbying — $16 million of which came from BP. The blowout on the Deepwater Horizon is a symptom of this undue influence.

It is time for the collusion to stop. As long as it continues, Americans will pay the price in the form of devastated ecosystems and a fossil fuel addiction that benefits oil companies, not ordinary citizens.

Joe Berlinger vs. Chevron: Why We Must All Defend Independent Filmmaking

I have devoted a significant part of my life’s work in support of the independent artist — independent referring not to the size of a project, its funding or subject matter; rather, to the singular vision and voice of that artist. I founded Sundance Institute 30 years ago out of the belief that it is [...]

Redford Center’s Art of Activism Program with Rosario Dawson: June 9 in San Francisco

Don’t miss the Redford Center’s upcoming Art of Activism program: June 9 at the Sundance Kabuki Cinemas in San Francisco. The evening will examine and celebrate the leadership efforts of award winning actress, Rosario Dawson (Rent, Kids, Seven Pounds), and two extraordinary Bay Area activists, Martha Ryan and James Burk. Rosario Dawson will discuss the [...]

Robert Redford: “Mr. President, now is the time for clean energy.”

Thursday, May 20, 2010, marks one month since BP’s oil rig exploded in the Gulf Coast, killing 11 people and unleashing one of the worst environmental disasters our nation has ever seen.   Since then, millions of gallons of oil have gushed into the ocean, poisoning marine life and threatening hundreds of miles of coastal [...]

Earth Week insight: Robert Redford interview in On Earth

While the list of Hollywood environmentalists continues to grow, few have been involved in the movement longer or more consistently than Sundance founder Robert Redford. As such, NRDC’s On Earth chose to publish an interview with Redford late last week in which he reflects on the first Earth Day forty years ago, his own environmental awakenings, and how the movement to protect and conserve our natural resources has developed, changed, and even taken some detours since 1970.

Criterion releases DOWNHILL RACER

Most sports movies will try to convince you that it’s not about winning, it’s about how you play the game. Not DOWNHILL RACER (1969). In fact, one of the primary reasons Robert Redford struggled to get this film made was because no one had made a sports movie with a protagonist whose amorality and arrogance had no effect on his winning streak. He chose to center the narrative around downhill racing pretty much because baseball and football were already taken.

Robert Redford on Paul Newman, Sundance and the Increasingly Crucial Fight to Save the Earth

Speaking about his long-time friend and mentor, Robert Redford told a crowd in New York City that he learned a great deal from the late Paul Newman, especially generosity. “Back then it was really about actors playing roles. It wasn’t until later that it became more about actors’ personalities,” Redford told a packed theater at Lincoln Center.

The crowd enthusiastically hung on Redford’s words. This was no doubt because of the star power of the great actor, director and Sundance Institute creator (particularly because the audience skewed toward his generation), but perhaps even more so because the crowd was packed with committed environmentalists. This was a special, intimate conversation between Redford, a longtime green leader, and veteran radio journalist Bob Edwards (formerly of NPR and now of Sirius radio), hosted by the New York-based Natural Resources Defense Council (Watch video of NRDC head Frances Beinecke accepting a 2009 Heart of Green Award).

Festival Updates Spotlight: The People Speak

Robert Redford, Marissa Tomei, Josh Brolin, Woody Harrelson and more read excerpts from Howard Zinn’s Voices of a People’s History of the United States for the forthcoming documentary THE PEOPLE SPEAK.

A Friendly Reminder from Howard Zinn that U.S. History is Mostly Horrific

Celebrities, from the A list on down, are a dime a dozen at Sundance, where even nobodies (like me) walk around acting like they belong here—like they’re more important than that nobody walking in the opposite direction.

Beer O’Clock at the Sundance Channel

There are myriad ways of judging whether a party is a success or not.

Festival Updates Spotlight: Filmmakers

Robert Redford speaks to the filmmakers of this year’s festival about creating a sense of community of like-minded artists.

New Frontiers: The Future of Filmmaking?

One of thousands of digital snapshots that make up “We Feel Fine,” an installation at New Frontiers’ headquarters With Sundance billing this year as its 25th anniversary, Robert Redford today was asked the expected questions about the festival’s past vs. present, but he resisted nostalgia and instead focused on the festival’s future. Sundance hasn’t changed [...]

Robert Redford: The Spin

With all the spin… the flip, the bob, the weave… the duplicitous behavior coming from the Republicans… scrapping around in campaign desperation. Blurring the facts seems to be a strategy. But what’s not a blur is that the Republican party has had it all for the last 8 years – Presidency and national administration, both [...]

Robert Redford: The American People

Are we missing something? The simple and clear story? The real story? To resurrect a popular campaign phrase from a while back: Are you better off than you were 4 years ago? How about 8 years ago? I do admire the messaging skill of the Republican machine — simple, clear, repetitive and strong. But wrong. [...]

Five Things To Know Before Coming To Sundance (plus Five): Wash Wetmoreland And Richard Glatzer

Filmmaking duo Wash Westmoreland and Richard Glatzer show up last year to Sundance with thier low-budget no-star “kitchen sink” drama QUINCEANERA. They left winning both Grand Jury prize and Audience Award. Now we can learn from their experience.

Read more after the jump…