Sundance Institute founder and president Robert Redford made it clear during the Sundance Film Festival’s opening press conference Thursday afternoon that Park City and Sundance are two different places.
“Sundance is not Park City,” Robert Redford said to a group of international journalists at the Egyptian Theatre. “It’s a place where this all started back in the 1980s when I started up the labs.”
The labs, Redford referred to, take place at the Sundance Resort, some 40 miles away from Park City, where filmmakers develop and create their films.
“The festival is a part of (the Sundance Institute), but in my mind, the stronger part, the more meaningful part, is the development part where our labs are,” he said.
The year-round filmmakers labs have expanded over the years because of the film festival’s success.
“We are able to include documentary labs, short-film labs, producer labs, all those elements that have to do with storytelling,” Redford said.
Still, with its expansion and success, the institute’s mission hasn’t changed since it was founded 28 years ago.
“Our mission is pretty simple,” he said. “It is creating a platform for independent artists to show their work.
“This is the only festival that I know is truly independent in the world, and it’s the only festival that has a year-round workshop attached to it.”
Redford’s annual “state-of-the-festival’ speech was followed by comments from Keri Putnam, executive director of the Sundance Institute, and John Cooper, director of the Sundance Film Festival, which runs through Sunday, Jan. 29.
“It’s no secret the times are dark and grim and in addition to that, we’re suffering from a government that is in paralysis,” Redford said. “The happy thing is here, for this week, we’re going to see works of artists, although they may reflect these hard times, there is no paralysis here.”
via The Park Record
photo credit – Rasdourian