Overview

• Redford died on Sept. 16 at age 89, spurring tributes that center on his creation of the Sundance Institute and the ecosystem it enabled.
• He founded the institute in 1980 and in 1984 purchased the Utah/US Film Festival, which later took the Sundance name and established a January showcase in Park City.
• Sundance premieres helped launch careers and films including Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Reservoir Dogs, Blood Simple, Whiplash, Get Out, and filmmakers such as Steven Soderbergh, Quentin Tarantino, the Coen brothers, Ava DuVernay, and Ryan Coogler.
• The festival reshaped industry practices as studios built indie divisions to scout it, and today Netflix, Amazon, and Apple use it as a key marketplace.
• The Sundance Institute has announced the festival will relocate to Boulder, Colorado beginning in 2027 to secure more theaters and venues for programming needs.