How Robert Redford Championed Independent Filmmaking

In the foothills of Utah’s Wasatch Mountains, Robert Redford carved out more than just a ski resort. The actor, director and producer created a haven for artists who would help shape the course of independent cinema. The Sundance Film Festival, named after the outlaw character Redford played in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, began as a modest gathering in the late 1970s. It grew to become one of the most important platforms for new filmmakers.

Redford’s vision for Sundance began with a land purchase. In 1969, fresh from the success of Butch Cassidy, he bought a swath of rugged terrain in Provo Canyon. Known as Sundance Mountain Resort, he wanted to preserve the natural beauty from developers and foster a community centered on creativity, conservation and self-expression.

"With his generous spirit, kind nature and artistic vision, Bob created something no one else could have built,” says Chad Linebaugh, president and general manager of Sundance Mountain Resort. “Always looking ahead, his commitment to this canyon was a calling that went beyond love.”

The Sundance Institute followed in 1981, designed to support emerging voices in film, theater and music. Its mission was as much about mentorship as exhibition. Redford invited screenwriters, directors and producers to workshops where they could experiment, fail safely and refine their work under the guidance of experienced artists.

"To us, Sundance is and always will be a dream,” Redford reflected years later. “What you see, smell, taste and feel here is a dream being carefully nurtured. What we offer in the form of art, culture, spirit and service is homegrown and available to all."

Redford’s passion for storytelling was never limited to the roles he played on screen. He made his directorial debut in 1980 with Ordinary People, a film that won an Academy Award for best picture and earned him an Oscar for best director. Later projects such as Quiz Show and The Horse Whisperer showed the same quiet attention to character and detail. These experiences deepened his conviction that filmmakers needed more room to take risks and tell stories outside the studio system.

The first Sundance Film Festival, originally called the Utah/US Film Festival, was held in Salt Lake City in 1978. Its aim was to draw attention to independent films outside the Hollywood system. The move to Park City in 1981 gave it both ski town charm and international visibility. By the mid-1980s, the festival was already attracting national press, curious audiences and major distributors scouting for the next breakout hit.

It was at Sundance that films like Steven Soderbergh’s Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989) and Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs (1992) found their first audiences. Both went on to alter the direction of American filmmaking, proof that small, scrappy productions could command global attention.

Sundance became synonymous with discovery. Kevin Smith’s $27,000 debut Clerks premiered there in 1994, turning the New Jersey convenience store clerk into a cult sensation. Steven Soderbergh, the Coen brothers, Ava DuVernay and Ryan Coogler all credit Sundance with helping them break through.

Redford insisted the festival remain a space where diverse perspectives could flourish. Over time, Sundance became especially important for women, LGBTQ+ creators and filmmakers of color who found limited access in Hollywood. The festival’s programming and Institute fellowships deliberately sought out underrepresented voices, pushing stories onto the screen that might otherwise have gone untold.

“I was told that the lead character in my film To the Stars would never be a character anyone would want to see,” says Shannon Bradley-Colleary, a novelist and screenwriter. “Yet after it went to Sundance in 2019 it sold to Samuel Goldwyn [Films] and was invited to over 40 other festivals … Sundance immediately elevated it to top-tier watching.”

Ironically, the success of Sundance turned it into a magnet for the very Hollywood machinery it set out to counter. By the 1990s, studios and agents swarmed Park City looking for the next big acquisition. Still, Redford fought to preserve the festival’s ethos.

That tension between art and commerce has defined Sundance’s evolution. Even as splashy premieres and celebrity sightings became part of its identity, the festival has held onto its mission of nurturing experimentation. Each January, amid the snow and crowds, short films from unknown directors still screen alongside the polished works of veteran filmmakers.

Today, Sundance remains one of the premier film festivals in the world, rivaling Cannes, Venice and Toronto in influence. Yet it retains its unique identity as a mountain town gathering committed to new voices. Redford stepped down as president of the Sundance Institute in 2019, but his imprint is unmistakable.

As Redford, who died on September 16, 2025, once told a room of nearly 200 filmmakers, “Perseverance is tied to storytelling more than anything else."

Sundance will move from Utah to Boulder, Colorado beginning in January 2027, marking the start of a new chapter for the film festival.