What Would Robert Redford Think Of Sundance’s Emotional Park City Goodbye — With Celebrities Galore Drawn Back?

PARK CITY, Utah — The 42nd Sundance Film Festival opens Thursday for its annual 10-day run in this often snowy (though not this year) town for the final time. This year’s official theme is “Everyone has a story,” but the big story is Sundance saying goodbye to the town that helped define it. It’s created something of a bittersweet swan song scene before the festival’s move to Boulder, Colorado.

That sense of transition is underscored by the September death of Sundance founder Robert Redford. Though Redford stepped away from public appearances years ago, his influence has remained deeply woven into Sundance’s identity. As Sundance closes its Park City run, it is difficult to imagine this moment without reflecting on Redford’s legacy and the era he helped shape.

At the media welcome gathering, Redford’s daughter Amy Redford, spoke eloquently about her father’s deep love for Park City and for independent film. “My Dad loved this place and its people,” she said.

Amy Redford lauded Sundance for being “the portal to so many stories to set free in the rest of the world.”

Sundance officials are attempting to keep the focus on what this movie festival has always done at its best: championing bold storytelling and introducing new voices. This year’s lineup features a strong mix of eagerly anticipated documentaries and narrative features, alongside discoveries from first-time filmmakers. Out of roughly 16,000 submissions, the festival selected 87 feature films and six episodic projects, with 36 first-time feature movie directors represented, reinforcing Sundance’s enduring role as a launchpad for emerging talent.

Robert Redford established the Sundance Film Festival in 1981 and led the kick-off press conference each year until 2019 (Photo by Jane Howze)

This year’s festival will also feature heartfelt nods to Robert Redford’s legacy and to the independent films that first made their mark in Park City, with many early Sundance filmmakers returning to honor both the town that launched them and the man who made it all possible.

Films will screen across Park City and nearby Salt Lake City, in traditional theaters and longtime Sundance venues, from the city library and a high school auditorium to hotel ballrooms, with each movie becoming available online later in the week.

Here is a closer look at what to expect at the last Park City Sundance:

Sundance’s Calling Card

Documentaries have always been Sundance’s not so secret sauce, and this year’s lineup leans hard into that tradition. Alex Gibney — one of the most respected nonfiction filmmakers working today — is back with Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie. Some Houstonians will instantly recognize his work from Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room, Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, and his Academy Award–winning Taxi to the Dark Side. Then there is Gibney’s unforgettable History of the Eagles documentary that lit up Sundance in 2013 (and made me a new Eagles fan).

A high-profile documentary on Billie Jean King is expected to draw a packed house and a powerful film on women’s basketball player Brittney Griner will link two trailblazing sports icons whose stories extend far beyond the court, along with a timely project on Nelson Mandela.

Billie Jean King appears in Give Me the Ball! by Liz Garbus and Elizabeth Wolff, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. (Photo by Ellen Griesedieck)

Sundance has always had a soft spot for music docs — the kind that balance joy, nostalgia and great storytelling — and this festival is bringing a Courtney Love documentary timed to new music, a Charli XCX project, and a buzzy ’90s-era film The Best Summer that revisits a landmark 1990s rock tour featuring Foo Fighters, Beastie Boys, Sonic Youth and Pavement.

Sundance’s Complicated Love Stories

While documentaries usually steal my heart at Sundance, the dramas have slowly started to claim more of the spotlight. Just last year, Succession favorite Kieran Culkin won an Oscar for A Real Pain, a Sundance 2025 premiere he made with Jesse Eisenberg. This movie about adult cousins who reunite for a Jewish heritage tour through Poland is one of Sundance’s real success stories.

Natalie Portman and Jenna Ortega appear in The Gallerist by Cathy Yan, an official selection of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival. Courtesy of Sundance Institute | photo by MRC II Distribution Company L.P.

Several movies are on my must-see list, thanks to the stories they’re telling and the actors attached to them. Consider Carousel, starring Chris Pine as a man whose tidy life gets turned upside down by family and an old love; Wicker with Olivia Colman and Alexander Skarsgård as a mother and son trying to mend a complicated relationship; and The Gallerist with Natalie Portman, Jenna Ortega and Sterling K. Brown in a darkly funny thriller that takes on the glamorous — and not-so-glamorous — side of the art world.

A Love Letter To Park City

It wouldn’t be Sundance without panels, music and a healthy dose of star power mixed into the snow boots and parkas. This year feels especially packed with familiar faces. Chris Pine, Natalie Portman, Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård, Jenna Ortega and Sterling K. Brown, Charli xcx and Billie Jean King are all expected to be in the mix. Add in Rob Lowe and Jon Hamm — who’s starring in the romantic comedy Good Sex, about a woman given a hall pass to sleep with him — and Park City is shaping up to feel even more star-studded than usual.

Park City’s Main Street becomes a festive gathering place during the Sundance film festival.

But beyond the celebrity sightings and buzzy screenings, there’s a deeper emotional undercurrent running through this final Park City movie festival. With tributes planned, a special screening of Robert Redford’s Downhill Racer on the schedule, and a wave of filmmakers returning to honor the man who built Sundance from a scrappy idea into a global cultural force, this year feels like a collective thank you in some ways.

Redford himself would probably shy away from the attention, but true movie lovers wouldn’t have it any other way — and if there aren’t a few misty-eyed moments along the way, something would be wrong. After all, it is never easy to say goodbye.

Author’s note: Jane Howze is managing director of The Alexander Group, a national executive search firm. She has covered  every Sundance Film Festival since 2011.