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Robert Redford’s legacy and mission were always going to be a major component of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, which will be the last of its kind park city, utahBut after his death in September at the age of 89, those ideas took on a new importance.
This January, the institution that Redford founded 40 years ago is planning a series of legacy screenings to honor his career and influence and include a screening of his first truly independent film, the 1969 sports drama “Downhill Racer,” and restored Sundance gems from “Little Miss Sunshine” to “House Party,” festival organizers said Tuesday.
“As we were thinking about how to best honor Mr. Redford’s legacy, it’s not only carrying forward this notion of ‘everyone has a story,’ but it’s getting together in a movie theater and watching a film that really embodies that independent spirit,” festival director Eugene Hernandez told The Associated Press. “We’ve also been contacted by some incredible artists over the past few weeks following Mr. Redford’s passing who want to be a part of this year’s festival.”
Archival screenings will include films “Saw,” “Mysterious Skin,” “House Party,” and “Humpday” as well as the 35th anniversary of Barbara Koppel’s documentary “American Dream” and the 20th anniversary of “Half Nelson” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” with some of the filmmakers also expected to attend.
Festival programmer John Nein said, “In the Sundance Institute’s nearly 30-year collaboration with our partner, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, we have not only worked to ensure that the festival’s legacy lives on through film preservation, but we have seen the output fuel an astonishing resurgence of repertory cinema programming across the country.” “The films we have preserved and the newly restored films featured at this year’s festival, including some big anniversaries, are an important way to keep alive the independent stories that have been told over the years in our culture today.”
Tickets for the 2026 festival, which runs from Jan. 22 to Feb. 1, go on sale Wednesday at noon Eastern, with online and in-person options. Some planning is also already underway for the festival’s new home boulder, coloradoin 2027, but programmers are busy figuring out a slate of world premieres for January. Which will be revealed in December.
“There’s a lot more to come and a lot more to be announced,” Hernandez said. “It’s just laying a foundation.”
Redford’s death added a poignancy to everything.
“Seeing and hearing the memories reminded me of why I felt compelled to go to the festival in the first place,” Hernandez said. “It’s been very important and clarifying and it’s been very emotional and moving for us as a team. But it’s also an opportunity to remind ourselves what Mr. Radford has given to us, to our lives, to our industry, to Utah.”