Robert Redford
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What I Saw, Heard, and Felt as Sundance Bid Farewell to Park City—and Robert Redford
“What I’m saying is, if you want to go, I won’t stop you.” At the final Park City edition of Sundance last week, my 14th consecutive one, I contemplated this line from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid daily. That’s because a gorgeous, Western-style artwork painted on plywood by local artist Ryan Williams stood not far from The Library Theater, displaying the dearly departed Sundance Kid Robert Redford (who passed away last September at age 89) next to these famous words spoken by his character. The quote felt like a homegrown farewell steeped in bittersweet resignation, an ingenious marking of […]
by Tomris Laffly on Feb 4, 2026 -
Sundance Redford Founder Tribute to Honor Ed Harris, Gyula Gazdag at 2026 Festival
The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced in a press release details for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival’s annual fundraiser, Celebrating Sundance Institute: A Tribute to Founder Robert Redford, taking place on Friday, January 23, 2026, at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Utah. From the press release: The evening will honor Sundance Institute’s Founder, Robert Redford — his legacy, vision, and enduring mission to support independent storytellers. In paying tribute this year, the inaugural Robert Redford Luminary Award will be established and presented to Ed Harris and Gyula Gazdag, two artists deeply dedicated to the Sundance Institute labs and committed […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Nov 12, 2025 -
Robert Redford: A Remembrance
On the sad occasion of Robert Redford’s passing, filmmaker Eva Vives pens this guest post on her interactions with the legendary actor, director, environmentalist, activist and Sundance Institute founder. — Editor I first met Redford by chance. Pete Sollett and I had gone to meet Sundance Institute’s Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director of Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs, at the Sundance offices in New York after our short, Five Feet High and Rising, had won the festival. There was some kind of snafu, and I was asked to wait in an office while they sorted it out. I don’t remember where […]
by Eva Vives on Sep 17, 2025 -
“Pushing for Black Actors to Tell Black Stories”: Euzhan Palcy on A Dry White Season
In 1989, Euzhan Palcy became the first black woman to direct a major studio movie when she helmed A Dry White Season for MGM. A brutal yet inspiring anti-apartheid drama, A Dry White Season remains a model of political filmmaking, as Palcy (adapting Andre Brink’s novel with co-screenwriter Colin Welland) boldly and forcefully indicts the South African government of the period with clarity, complexity and passion. Donald Sutherland plays Ben Du Toit, a schoolteacher (a surrogate for both Brink and the movie’s white audience members) who keeps his head buried in the sand when it comes to the injustices around […]
by Jim Hemphill on Feb 5, 2019 -
The Thrill of the Chase: Cinematographer Joe Anderson on Capturing Robert Redford’s Ride into the Sunset in The Old Man & the Gun
Robert Redford’s final day on David Lowery’s The Old Man and the Gun — perhaps his final day as an actor on any movie set — found him in Texas. Though the amiable based-in-fact caper was shot largely in Ohio on 16mm, Redford’s dapper bank robber actually did most of his pillaging in Texas and its neighboring states. Thus a few pick-ups were needed — the last of which featured Redford’s Forrest Tucker phoning a widowed rancher he’s romancing. “There was a little bit of electricity in the air for that scene,” said cinematographer Joe Anderson. “The shot worked really […]
by Matt Mulcahey on Oct 25, 2018 -
“I Decided to Remove as Much as I Could from the Plot of the Movie”: David Lowery on The Old Man & the Gun, Robert Redford and Vintage Cop Cars
In The Old Man & the Gun, Robert Redford plays Forrest Tucker, a true-life outlaw who spent most of his 84 years robbing banks or biding time in prison, always on the lookout for the first opportunity to escape. Set in 1981, the film finds Tucker in his early 70s, living in Texas and pulling off a string of heists throughout the South. He and his partners, played here by Danny Glover and Tom Waits, became known to authorities as the “Over-the-Hill Gang,” and their m.o.–efficient robberies, executed politely and with style–became legendary. “That was when I was a really […]
by Darren Hughes on Sep 27, 2018 -
Park City Critic’s Notebook: Mermaid Feelings
On the first day of the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, before the Opening Night films — a seemingly lukewarm cancer movie and the newest from the ever-prolific Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing — Robert Redford couldn’t help himself. Although the 79-year-old actor offered boosterism for almost every aspect of the global brand that is Sundance, he was less rosy when discussing the business and culture of independent film itself, which his visionary endeavor has helped popularize for four decades. In 2007, when the specialty divisions of big studios had yet to collapse, or be folded into the larger corporate apparatus […]
by Brandon Harris on Jan 23, 2016 -
Watch: Todd Haynes, Helen Mirren, Robert Redford and Steve Golin at the Gothams
Last night’s Gotham Independent Film Awards were highlighted by a series of tributes to luminaries of the film world. We’ve posted both the intros and acceptance speeches. Let’s start with Robert De Niro’s tribute to Helen Mirren: And the wonderful Helen Mirren, taking De Niro’s lusty testimonial in stride: Next up we have Dan Rather, who quotes Archibald MacLeish (!) while paying tribute to Robert Redford… But not until this part of the ceremony, which includes Redford’s speech, a probing look back at his career. Julianne Moore understandably gushed when introducing Todd Haynes: And Haynes followed up with a speech […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Dec 1, 2015 -
Gotham Independent Film Awards to Present Tributes to Robert Redford, Helen Mirren, Todd Haynes and Steve Golin
Today the IFP Gotham Independent Film Awards (presented by Filmmaker Magazine‘s parent organization IFP) announced three additional tributes to be presented at this year’s 25th anniversary awards ceremony. In addition to previously announced director honoree Todd Haynes, Actor and Actress tributes will be presented to Robert Redford and Helen Mirren, and Anonymous Content founder and CEO Steve Golin will be awarded the Industry Tribute. The awards will take place Monday, November 30. For more information, click here for the full press release.
by Filmmaker Staff on Sep 15, 2015 -
“The Mid-Size Studio Feature is Gone”: Ken Kwapis on A Walk in the Woods
When Ken Kwapis was a cinema student at USC, he ran the school’s film society and programmed retrospectives that enabled him to not only study the classics but also to meet several of the directors who made them – among his guests were Orson Welles, John Cassavetes, and Don Siegel. The experience clearly influenced Kwapis when he became a director himself, as he forged a career similar to that of many of the filmmakers of the classical studio era, albeit without the same corporate support system. Like a Michael Curtiz or Victor Fleming, Kwapis employs a self-effacing style and often […]
by Jim Hemphill on Sep 2, 2015
