How Robert Redford put together the Sundance Film Festival – Celebrity News – Entertainment

Robert Redford left a lasting mark on Hollywood before his death, and his legacy will live on in the form of one of the most famous film festivals in the world.

The beloved actor died at the age of 89 on Tuesday, September 16, at his home. His publicist wrote, in a statement, that Robert died “at his home at Sundance in the mountains of Utah — the place he loved, surrounded by those he loved.”

Robert purchased land in Utah and named the area Sundance, Utah, after his character in the classic film butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Years later, the name would inspire the biggest independent film festival in the United States.

Later, Robert and the Utah State Film Commission founded the festival in 1978 as the Utah/US Film Festival. Then, in the early 1980s, Robert created a nonprofit called the Sundance Institute that was “dedicated to the discovery and development of independent artists and audiences,” according to its mission statement.

Renowned film critic Roger Ebert wrote about his visit to the festival a few years later in 1981. Roger wrote that Robert hoped that the Sundance Institute would “become a clearinghouse for independent filmmakers working outside the studio system.”

In 1991, the festival was renamed the Sundance Film Festival, something that Robert “thought it was too self-serving” but was outvoted.

In 2002, while accepting an Honorary Award at the Academy Awards, Robert said that his personal work was the “most important” but his other priority was “trying to put something back into an industry that’s been good to me. And of course, Sundance is a manifestation of that.”