{"id":136363,"date":"2025-10-21T16:08:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-21T16:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/136363\/"},"modified":"2025-10-21T16:08:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T16:08:08","slug":"sundance-film-fest-reveals-events-screenings-robert-redford-tributes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/136363\/","title":{"rendered":"Sundance Film Fest Reveals Events, Screenings, Robert Redford Tributes"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tThe Sundance Film Festival<\/a> is preparing for a final bow in Park City, Utah.<\/p>\n

\n\tFestival officials unveiled Tuesday the first wave of programming details for next year\u2019s edition \u2014 scheduled for Jan. 22 \u2013 Feb. 1, 2026 \u2014 the final Sundance at its longtime home before moving to Boulder, Colorado, for 2027 and beyond. Pieces of intel revealed include the Park City Legacy program with archival screenings of high-profile festival selections, artist talks with boldfaced name alumni and more special events. Before getting deep into the details, top of mind for many in Hollywood will be how Sundance will pay tribute to its beloved founder, Robert Redford<\/a>, who passed away last month<\/a> at 89.<\/p>\n

\n\tPer the fest, the entire event will serve as a \u201cmeaningful tribute\u201d to Redford and his vision, not only the fest itself but the Sundance Institute, which has served as a launching and learning pad for countless filmmakers, producers and writers. In addition to \u201cgatherings that uplift the mission he envisioned\u201d throughout the festival \u2014\u00a0such as a Directors Brunch at Sundance Mountain Resort and a Salt Lake City celebration \u2014 Redford will be the focal point of the festival\u2019s annual marquee fundraiser. Celebrating Sundance Institute: A Tribute to Founder Robert Redford will take place at the start of the festival.<\/p>\n

\n\tSundance will also present a commemorative screening of Michael Ritchie\u2019s Downhill Racer, a drama that cast Redford as quietly cocky David Chappellet, who joins the U.S. ski team only to clash with its coach, Eugene Claire, played by Gene Hackman. The 1969 film marked Redford\u2019s first independent film and the experience served as a catalyst that led him to create Sundance.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Park City Legacy program, scheduled for the fest\u2019s second half on Jan. 27-30, encompasses screenings of past festival favorites and standout titles spanning a variety of genres. It is poised to be a nostalgia bonanza with talent (directors and select cast) from each title expected to make the trek to Park City for the showings. <\/p>\n

\n\tThe program spotlights special anniversaries and will feature brand-new digital restorations of Little Miss Sunshine from Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, House Party from Reginald Hudlin, Half Nelson from Ryan Fleck, American Dream from Barbara Kopple and Mysterious Skin from Gregg Araki, as well as a recent restoration of Saw from James Wan. The series will also feature an archival screening of the late Lynn Shelton\u2019s Humpday. More to come: A retrospective short film program and the full lineup of world premieres from emerging and established filmmakers that will run throughout the fest. Full details on confirmed participants are below.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tA teaser for the films being presented at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival as part of its legacy program. From top center, left to right: Mysterious Skin, American Dream, Little Miss Sunshine, Downhill Racer, Half Nelson, Humpday, House Party, Saw. \u201cWe are not just screening classic films at the festival, but we\u2019re shining a light on film preservation,\u201d Nein added.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Sundance<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe have been so moved by the coverage, outpouring, love, stories and just the incredible response that Mr. Redford\u2019s passing has had on his fans, the community and the industry. For us, it\u2019s been very grounding and very clarifying to be putting together this festival that will have a culmination in Utah this year at a time when we\u2019re also honoring and celebrating the legacy of the man who created the Institute and this festival,\u201d offered Eugene Hernandez<\/a>, director of the Sundance Film Festival and public programming, in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter. \u201cIt will be a very emotional, significant and fun festival this year as we try to do our best to honor that legacy and that impact.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHernandez added that the Sundance team has also fielded a lot of incoming outreach from \u201camazing artists, filmmakers, actors and industry folks\u201d that want to participate in the festival in some capacity as a way to celebrate Redford and this final Utah bow. John Nein, Sundance Film Festival senior programmer and director of strategic initiatives, added that next year\u2019s program \u201cis very much a reflection\u201d of Redford\u2019s vision and his values by way of the legacy screenings (done in collaboration with longtime partners at the UCLA Film & Television Archive), artist talks and special events, which serve the purpose of bringing community together. <\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThe community has always been at the center of it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was at the center of it for Redford. And this is a way of celebrating that [by bringing together] filmmakers, industry, staff, volunteers, the audiences in particular, and the local community. I really hope that this program reflects all of those things and honors that vision.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe Park City Legacy program includes special talks as part of the Beyond Film series, which offers artist and filmmaker conversations on cinema, legacy, culture and more. Participants and topics will be announced at a later date but what is known (and previously reported) is that a number of those events will be held at Main Street\u2019s iconic Egyptian Theatre, one of the first Sundance venues. Next year, it will celebrate a milestone 100 years as \u201cthe jewel of Main Street.\u201d Said Hernandez: \u201cTo have a few special events in this iconic venue in this special year will be really meaningful. It represents and embodies the spirit, enthusiasm and significance of this moment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOne more special event of note: A culmination event for the public will be held Jan. 30, one that, per the festival, is designed to \u201ccelebrate the many cherished memories of the over 40-year history of the annual festival founded by Robert Redford and show deep gratitude for the local Utah community.\u201d Details and location will also be unveiled later.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile they continue to sort out details for all the special events, Hernandez and Nein confirmed that they\u2019re still glued to screens watching as many films as possible every single day to curate the main festival programming in tandem with the team, which includes director of programming Kim Yutani<\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re exhausted and fried, and it is incredibly competitive, as it always is,\u201d Nein confirmed. \u201cIt\u2019s a tough period of time for us, but I will say that these are the moments that we recognize that the festival is happening. We have passes and packages going on sale tomorrow. We have [today\u2019s programming] announcement and it very much underscores all of the things that we are working toward.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTicket packages<\/a> \u2014 for both in-person and online screenings or a combination thereof \u2014\u00a0will go on sale Wednesday, Oct. 22, at 9 a.m. PT. Single tickets go on sale Jan. 14. In addition to Park City screenings, Salt Lake City will once again be home to many Sundance events. More details can be found here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tPark City Legacy Films<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAmerican Dream: The Barbara Kopple-directed documentary follows what happens when workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota, are asked to take a substantial pay cut in a highly profitable year. The local labor union calls for a strike but as the work stoppage drags on and the strikers face losing everything, friends become enemies, families are divided, and the very future of this typical mid-American town is threatened. American Dream played at the 1991 Sundance and won an audience award, a filmmaker trophy and the grand jury prize, all in doc categories before winning an Oscar. Kopple is confirmed to return to Sundance.<\/p>\n

\n\tHalf Nelson: Ryan Fleck\u2019s film stars Ryan Gosling as a New York City middle school teacher with a drug habit. He forms an unlikely friendship with one of his students after she discovers his secret. Shareeka Epps, Ryan Gosling, Tina Holmes, Anthony Mackie, Deborah Rush and Jay O. Sanders round out the cast. Confirmed to attend the 20th anniversary screening are Fleck, his co-writer Anna Boden and others.<\/p>\n

\n\tHouse Party: Reginald Hudlin\u2019s film follows Kid, who decides to go to his friend Play\u2019s house party, but neither of them can predict what\u2019s in store for them on what could be the wildest night of their lives. Tisha Campbell, Full Force, Robin Harris, A.J. Johnson, Martin Lawrence and Kid \u2018N Play star in the film, which premiered at Sundance in 1990. It won an excellence in cinematography prize and a filmmaker trophy. Confirmed to attend the screening are Hudlin and Warrington Hudlin.<\/p>\n

\n\tHumpday: Lynn Shelton\u2019s film follows two guys who take their bromance to another level when they participate in an art film project. Alycia Delmore, Mark Duplass, Joshua Leonard, Trina Willard and Shelton star in the film that premiered in Sundance in 2009. It won a special jury prize for \u201cspirit of independence.\u201d Per Sundance, \u201cIt\u2019s being screened at this year\u2019s festival in memory of all the festival artists who have passed away but whose work remains with us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLittle Miss Sunshine: The Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris film follows a family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant as they take a cross-country trip in their VW bus. Alan Arkin, Abigail Breslin, Steve Carell, Toni Collette, Paul Dano and Greg Kinnear star. It debuted at Sundance in 2006 and went on to earn four Oscar nominations, winning best original screenplay and best supporting actor for Arkin. The version screening at the 2026 Sundance Film Festival was restored by the Walt Disney Studios. Confirmed to attend the festival are Dayton, Faris, Michael Arndt, Breslin, Dano and Kinnear.<\/p>\n

\n\tMysterious Skin: Gregg Araki\u2019s film follows two preadolescent boys who both experience a strange event and later it affects their lives in different ways. One becomes a reckless, adventurous sex worker, while the other retreats into a reclusive fantasy of alien abduction. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Jeffrey Licon, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Elisabeth Shue and Michelle Trachtenberg star. The film debuted at Sundance in 2005. The film was digitally restored by the Academy Film Archive and UCLA Film & Television Archive in conjunction with Sundance Institute, with additional funding by mk2, Frameline, Antidote Films and Strand Releasing. Araki and others will be in attendance.<\/p>\n

\n\tSaw: James Wan\u2019s film follows two men who awaken to find themselves on the opposite sides of a dead body, each with specific instructions to kill the other, escape or face the consequences. Cary Elwes, Danny Glover, Monica Potter, Michael Emerson, Ken Leung, Tobin Bell and Leigh Whannell star. The horror entry premiered in 2004 in the festival\u2019s midnight category before launching a box office franchise. Wan and others will appear in Park City.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Sundance Film Festival is preparing for a final bow in Park City, Utah. Festival officials unveiled Tuesday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":136364,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[268],"tags":[434,18,117,81225,19,17,81226,47270,81227,16999],"class_list":{"0":"post-136363","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-celebrities","8":"tag-celebrities","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-eugene-hernandez","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-kim-yutani","15":"tag-robert-redford","16":"tag-sundance-2026","17":"tag-sundance-film-festival"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136363","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=136363"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/136363\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/136364"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=136363"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=136363"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=136363"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}