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Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide. The Institute has offices in Park City, Los Angeles, and New York City, and provides creative and financial support to emerging and aspiring filmmakers, directors, producers, film composers, screenwriters, playwrights, and theater artists through a series of Labs and Fellowships The programs of Sundance Institute include the Sundance Film Festival, a premier platform for American and international independent film.

The Sundance Institute's founding staff, assembled in spring of 1980, included Executive Director Sterling Van Wagenen, Director of Film Development Programs Jenny Walz Selby, and Director of Development Jon Lear. Frank Daniel was secured as Artistic Director. This staff produced the first Filmmakers Lab in June 1981, which fortuitously followed the Academy Awards at which Ordinary People (the directorial debut of Robert Redford) won numerous awards, including Best Picture. Michelle Satter joined the staff in June 1981 and subsequently opened up the Los Angeles office of the Institute.

The Sundance Institute's 1981 founding Board of Directors included Robert Redford, Frank Daniel, George C. White, Reg Gipson, Jon Lear, Ian Calderon, Jack Crosby, Moctesuma Esparza, Robert Geller, Alan Jacobs, Bill Wittliff, and Marjorie Benton. Sydney Pollack was also instrumental in helping found the Institute.

In 1985, the Sundance Institute assumed management of the fledgling United States Film Festival, which had been experiencing financial problems. The Institute hired Tony Safford from the AFI Kennedy Center program as Program Director and renamed the festival.

Sundance Institute programs[link]

Sundance Feature Film Program[link]

Through year-round support and a series of Labs, the Feature Film Program supports emerging independent screenwriters and directors through the development of their feature film projects. For three weeks each June in Sundance, Utah, Directors Lab Fellows rehearse, shoot and edit 4-6 scenes from their screenplays under the mentorship of accomplished directors, editors, cinematographers, and actors who serve as Creative Advisors. Surrounded by seasoned professionals, yet removed from the typical pressures of production, Lab Fellows are offered a unique opportunity to see the script “on its feet,” develop skills, and take risks.

In addition to the creative support offered through Labs and workshops, Sundance Institute helps independent filmmakers complete their work through various grants and fellowships. Many of these opportunities are designated for filmmakers selected to participate in the Institute's Feature Film Program.

Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program[link]

The Sundance Documentary Film Program assists nonfiction filmmakers from around the world with a series of workshops in editing, storytelling, and scoring for documentary films as well as providing grants to nonfiction film projects through the Sundance Documentary Fund. The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Program provides year-round support to nonfiction contemporary-issue filmmakers internationally. The program encourages the exploration of innovative nonfiction storytelling, and promotes the exhibition of documentary films to a broader audience. It supports independent artists both domestically and internationally through the Sundance Documentary Fund, the Documentary Composers Laboratory and Edit and Story Laboratory, panels at the Filmmakers Lodge at the Sundance Film Festival and the Sundance Independent Producers Conference, and a variety of collaborative international documentary initiatives.

The Sundance Documentary Fund is a key program of the Documentary Film Program, dedicated to supporting U.S. and international documentary films that focus on current human rights issues, freedom of expression, social justice, civil liberties, and exploring critical issues of our time. The Documentary Fund was established at Sundance Institute in 2002 with a gift from the Open Society Institute and is supported by a leadership grant from the Ford Foundation.

Documentary Fund grants are announced 2–3 times a year and between 2002–2006, the Fund has disbursed almost $5.2 million to over 175 projects in 52 countries. In supporting such work, the Sundance Documentary Fund encourages the diverse exchange of ideas crucial to developing an open society, raising public consciousness about human rights abuses and restrictions of civil liberties, and fostering an ongoing dialogue about these issues. For more information, visit sundance.org/documentary.

Sundance Film Music Program[link]

Connecting filmmakers with musicians, the Film Music Program's Composers Lab allows accomplished musicians to explore composing for film. The Sundance Institute Composers Lab, held each summer at the Sundance Resort, provides a group of six talented composers with valuable first-hand experience composing for film. By pairing participating composers with emerging filmmakers supported by the Institute's Feature Film and Documentary Film Programs, the Lab aims to enhance the role of music in independent film. With leading film composers serving as Creative Advisors, Composers Lab Fellows work closely with both documentary and feature filmmakers in a supportive atmosphere designed to promote experimentation and collaboration.

Composers Lab Alumni include Tyler Bates, Billy White Acre, Kristopher Carter, Ryan Beveridge, Penka Kouneva, Nick Laird-Clowes, Ceiri Torjussen, Billy Childs, Mark De Gli Antoni, Raz Mesinai, Don Byron, Gyan Riley, and Marco d'Ambrosio.

Composers Lab Advisors include John Adams, Terence Blanchard, Carter Burwell, George S. Clinton, Stewart Copeland, Mychael Danna, Richard Gibbs, Osvaldo Golijov, Rolfe Kent, David Mansfield, Thomas Newman, Basil Poledouris, Graeme Revell, Edward Shearmur, Shirley Walker, and Christopher Young.

The Music Cafe is a night club venue for rock, singer-songwriters, folk, country, and hip hop on Main Street in Park City during the Sundance Film Festival. Music Cafe daytime programming, produced by ASCAP, has featured such artists as India.Arie, Peter Gabriel, The Black Eyed Peas, Suzanne Vega, Sweet Pea Atkinson, Was (Not Was) and many others.

Sundance Theatre Program[link]

With a series of Labs and retreats that provide a creative environment for playwrights, directors, composers, and librettists, to develop new work with dramaturgs and full casts, the Theatre Program, under the direction of Philip Himberg, supports the development of independent theatre. Lab Alumni and projects include Tanya Barfield's BLUE DOOR, Adam Guettel and Craig Lucas' THE LIGHT IN THE PIAZZA, Lisa Kron's WELL, Jessica Hagedorn's DOGEATERS, Stew's PASSING STRANGE, Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik's SPRING AWAKENING, Moisés Kaufman's THE LARAMIE PROJECT and Doug Wright's I AM MY OWN WIFE.

Held at the Sundance Resort in Utah, the physical resources for the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab include four rehearsal rooms, a writing room and a music room, set in the midst of thousands of acres of mountain scenery. Projects rehearse every other day to give playwrights adequate time for rewrites. There is no physically controllable space, such as a 'black box.' Although lighting and scenic production values are not available, designers have sometimes participated as part of the development of the projects text. When a project is accepted into the lab, it is assigned a Sundance dramaturg who, in collaboration with the Producing Artistic Director, will work with that project prior to the Theatre Lab residency period.

The Sundance Institute Theatre Lab at White Oak, Florida is a two-week laboratory focusing on the development of musicals and ensemble-created projects. Plays at White Oak are cast individually and rehearse daily to afford the musical productions the luxury of ongoing time to learn new music without interruption. The Lab is held in collaboration with the Howard Gilman Foundation each fall at White Oak in Yulee, Florida. White Oak Director John Lukas and his staff are instrumental in providing this extraordinary opportunity for Sundance-supported artists.

The Sundance Playwright's Retreat at Ucross, Wyoming is an eighteen-day writing colony where five playwrights and a composer convene each year to put pen to paper, and where a Sundance dramaturg can respond to work at an early stage of the creative process. Like the other two Labs, the Ucross Retreat includes both emerging and established artists, creating an environment of peer mentorship, professional growth and unfettered, unpressured creativity.

Under the ongoing guidance of Creative Advisors and Ucross Foundation Executive Director Sharon Dynak, the Retreat takes place each February and provides a unique opportunity for Sundance-supported playwrights and composers. Artists are selected by invitation only.

The Sundance Institute Theatre Program is in the exploratory phase of a multi-year program supporting the work of theatre artists in East Africa, as well as an exchange program between Sundance Theatre Labs alumni and East African writers, director and performers. The goal is to create a program in East Africa which reflects Sundance’s primary values: accessibility, mentorship, professionalism, advancement of the individual artistic voice, and rigorous artistic standards. Sundance recognizes that the specific cultural, social, political and artistic realities of East African life (unique to each country as well as to the continent) be recognized and honored in both the design and the implementation of the Sundance East Africa programs. To that end, an esteemed group of East African artists, all alumni of the Sundance Institute Theatre Lab in Utah, have been brought on board as primary in-country consultants in the planning and implementation of the program, along with American theatre artists committed to intercultural exchange with the region.

Sundance East Africa acknowledges two primary goals for this exchange program: the growth of the American theatre artist and field through interactions in East Africa and with East African artists, and simultaneously the growth of the East African theatre artist and field through international exposure and exchange.

A May 2008 visit to East Africa was the first exploratory meeting between Philip Himberg, consultant Roberta Levitow, and two American guest artists with the theatre communities in the region, in anticipation of what we hope will be a series of annual subsequent Lab projects. It will always be the goal and practice of Sundance East Africa to explore and invest in the East African theatre community (as it does with the American theatre community) "wide and deep."

Native American Initiative[link]

Other special initiatives of the Institute include the Native American Initiative which facilitates the participation of Native and Indigenous artists in the Institute's artistic development programs and the Sundance Film Festival. Rooted in the recognition of a rich tradition of story telling and artistic expression by Native Americans, Sundance Institute's Native American Initiative is designed to support the development of Native and Indigenous artists and the exhibition of their work by identifying Native artists for the Institute's core programs. To date the Initiative has facilitated the participation of many Native artists into the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Producers Conference, and the Institute's Feature Film Program. In 2008 the Initiative expanded its focus to include outreach to documentarians, theatre artists, and musicians seeking financial and creative support through the Sundance Institute Documentary Fund, the Theatre Program, and the Film Music Program. As part of Sundance Institute's long tradition of supporting Native cinema, the Sundance Film Festivalprovides a world stage for compelling and innovative films by Native American and Indigenous filmmakers. The Festival also hosts the annual Native Forum, a program of panel discussions, filmmaker workshops, and networking events that provide opportunities for indigenous filmmakers to share their expertise and knowledge with each other and the larger independent film community. The Ford Foundation Fellowships bring Native filmmakers to the Festival each year.

From 1994 to 2004, the Film Festival presented Native films as part a dedicated screening category. In recognition of the evolution of Native filmmaking and as a way of introducing a broader audience to Native cinema, the Festival began incorporating Native and Indigenous films into its official film program in 2005.

Over the course of its history, the Sundance Film Festival has showcased a range of work by Native and Indigenous filmmakers including dramatic films like Sterlin Harjo's FOUR SHEETS TO THE WIND, Sherman Alexie's THE BUSINESS OF FANCYDANCING, Chris Eyre's SMOKE SIGNALS, and Rachel Perkins' ONE NIGHT THE MOON, documentaries such as Heather Rae's TRUDELL, Tom Murray and Allan Collins' DHAKIYARR VS. THE KING, Aand Merata Mita's HOTERE, and short films like Gabriel Lopez-Shaw and Sherwin Bitsui's CHRYSALIS, and Taika Waititi's TWO CARS ONE NIGHT.

Sundance Collection at UCLA[link]

The Institute maintains the Sundance Collection at UCLA (University of California, Los Angeles) to conserve and archive the history of independent film. Film preservation is an especially pressing need in independent cinema. Despite their historical, artistic and cultural value, good prints of far too many indie films – even some made within the past decade – no longer exist. Chemical decomposition, neglect, and the changing ownership of film libraries have caused these prints to disappear.

To create a living record of the history of independent film, Sundance Institute and UCLA Film and Television Archive initiated the Sundance Collection at UCLA in 1997, and with contributions from studios and distributors as well as hundreds of individual filmmakers, the Collection’s holdings have grown to include over 300 film prints. The archive represents a diversity of work from the Sundance Film Festival as well as projects developed through the Sundance Labs. From features to documentaries to shorts, prints in the Collection include Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Reservoir Dogs, The Living End, Smoke Signals, Amores Perros, Harlan County, USA, Love & Basketball, and Welcome to the Dollhouse, among many other works that might otherwise no longer exist.

The first significant archive of its kind, the Collection also provides a central resource for the study of independent film, containing a rare assemblage of material related to the history of independent cinema, including press kits and filmmaker interviews.

To further its preservation work, the Collection continues to actively seek donations from filmmakers and studios alike. By donating prints to the Sundance Collection at UCLA, filmmakers can join us in ensuring that your own work and the heritage of independent cinema endures for future generations to experience and to study. Company Donors: Artisan Entertainment, Gramercy Pictures, Lions Gate Films, Miramax Films, New Line Cinema, October Films, OTM, Sony Pictures Classics, Strand Releasing and Trimark Pictures.

External links[link]

• Sundance Institute

Sundance in the fall.

Sundance
Resort

Sundance Resort in U.S. state Utah.

Sundance Resort is a ski resort located 13 miles (21 km) northeast of Provo, Utah, spanning over 5,000 acres (2,000 ha) on the slopes of Mount Timpanogos in Utah's Wasatch Range. Snow skiing began on the site in 1944. Actor Robert Redford acquired the area in 1969,^[1] and established a year-round resort which would later spawn the independent Sundance Film Festival and the non-profit Sundance Institute.

The mountain[link]

Sundance Resort is heavily oriented towards advanced skiing; only three of the resort's 41 trails are marked "Easiest". Nearly 80% of the resort by area is designated "More Difficult" or "Most Difficult". The resort terrain climbs 2,150 vertical feet (655 m) up the northeast slope of Mount Timpanogos, reaching the crest of the ridge at Bearclaw Cabin. This restaurant at the resort's apex of 8,250 feet (2,515 m) provides spectacular 360° views of the surrounding landscape, and of Mount Timpanogos as it rises to a height just short of 12,000 ft (3,658 m). The mountain is serviced by three chairlifts and a handle tow for beginners at the mountain's base.

History[link]

The ski area opened as Timp Haven in 1944 with a rope tow. It was run by the Ray Stewart family for over twenty years. Chairlifts were added in the 1960s.

Redford presumably acquired the site because his first wife, Lola Van Wagenen was from Utah, and because the couple had built a home in the area five years earlier. The resort is named after the role he played in the 1969 film, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. The resort of Sundance is not to be confused with the town of Sundance, Wyoming, the location from where the Sundance Kid received his name. Redford's 1972 film Jeremiah Johnson was filmed near the resort.

Panoramic view

The Sundance Film Festival, held primarily 30 miles (48 km) north in Park City, is a competition for independent film makers, which has become extremely well known and popular in the film industry and media. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, and also one of the largest in the world.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Sundance Resort.com – official site
• Sundance Film Festival – official site
• Raymond Stewart Collection – University of Utah
• Deseret Morning News – Sundance
• The Sundance Institute – Sundance.org website
• [1] – 1993 Ski Affair – Sundance

Coordinates: 40°23′36″N 111°35′19″W / 40.39333°N 111.58861°W / 40.39333; -111.58861

Chris Horton

Horton at Redskins training camp in 2011
No. 41     New York Giants
Safety
Personal information
Date of birth: (1984-12-29) December 29, 1984 (age 27)
Place of birth: Los Angeles, California
Height: 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) Weight: 216 lb (98 kg)
Career information
College: UCLA
NFL Draft: 2008 / Round: 7 / Pick: 249
Debuted in 2008 for the Washington Redskins
Career history
Washington Redskins (2008–2010) New York Giants (2012–present)
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
First-team All-Pac-10 (2007)
Career NFL statistics as of Week 17, 2009
Tackles 113 Sacks 1.0 Interceptions 3 Stats at NFL.com

Christopher D. Horton (born December 29, 1984) is an American football safety for the New York Giants of the National Football League. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at UCLA.

Early years[link]

He graduated in 2003 from De La Salle High School in New Orleans.^[1] where he was a teammate of Marquise Hill.

Professional career[link]

Washington Redskins[link]

Horton was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the seventh round (249th overall) of the 2008 NFL Draft. He officially signed a three-year, $1.191 million contract with the team on June 12, 2008. The contract included a $36,000 signing bonus.

Making his first NFL start for the Redskins in Week 2 against the Saints, Horton recovered a fumble and recorded two interceptions helping lead the team to a comeback victory. He was named NFC Defensive Player of the Week for his efforts against the Saints. In the week 4 game against the Dallas Cowboys, he recorded his third interception of the season. On October 2, he was named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Month. For week 4 he was named Diet Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week. As a rookie, he finished third among rookies in interceptions behind the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Aqib Talib and Arizona Cardinals Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie.

Following the 2008 season, he was awarded $342,197 in additional pay from the NFL's performance-based pay system, which gives financial compensation based on a comparison of playing time to salary; this made him the third biggest beneficiary in 2008.^[2]

Horton was released by the Redskins on September 3, 2011 just before the start of the 2011 NFL Season.^[3]

New York Giants[link]

Horton signed with the New York Giants on March 15, 2012.^[4]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official Website
• UCLA Bruins bio
• Washington Redskins bio

Robert Redford
Robert Redford in 2006
Born	Charles Robert Redford, Jr. (1936-08-18) August 18, 1936 (age 75) Santa Monica, California, United States
Occupation	Actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist
Years active	1959–present
Spouse	Lola van Wagenen (1958–1985; divorced) Sibylle Szaggars (2009–present)[1]
Children	Scott (deceased), Shauna, Jamie, Amy

Charles Robert Redford, Jr. (born August 18, 1936),^[2] better known as Robert Redford, is an American actor, film director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, philanthropist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Oscars: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. In 2010 he was awarded French Knighthood in the Legion d'Honneur. At the height of his fame in the 1970s and 1980s, he was often described as one of the world's most attractive men and remains one of the most popular movie stars. His popular films include Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), Downhill Racer (1969), Jeremiah Johnson (1972), The Candidate (1972), The Sting (1973), The Way We Were (1973), The Great Gatsby (1974), Three Days of the Condor (1975), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), All the President's Men (1976), A Bridge Too Far (1977), The Natural (1984), Out of Africa (1985), Sneakers (1992), Indecent Proposal (1993),The Last Castle and Spy Game (2001). As a filmmaker, his notable films include Ordinary People (1980), The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), A River Runs Through It (1992), Quiz Show (1994), The Horse Whisperer (1998) and The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000).

Early life[link]

Redford's family moved to Van Nuys while his father worked in El Segundo.^[3] He attended Van Nuys High School, where he was classmates with baseball player Don Drysdale.^[3] He has described himself as having been a "bad" student, finding inspiration outside the classroom, and being interested in art and sports.^[3] He hit tennis balls with Pancho Gonzales at the Los Angeles Tennis Club to warm him up. After high school, he attended the University of Colorado for a year and a half,^[3] where he was a member of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity.^[4] While there, he worked at the restaurant/bar The Sink; a painting of his likeness is prominent in the bar's murals.^[5] After being asked to leave the University of Colorado, he traveled in Europe, living in France, Spain, and Italy.^[3] He later studied painting at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and took classes at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York City.^[3]

Career[link]

Television[link]

Redford's career — like that of almost all major stars who emerged in the 1950s — began in New York, where an actor could find work both in television and on stage. Starting in 1959, he appeared as a guest star on numerous programs, including The Untouchables, Whispering Smith, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, Route 66, Dr. Kildare, Playhouse 90, Tate, and The Twilight Zone, among others. He earned an Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Voice of Charlie Pont (ABC, 1962). One of his last television appearances was on October 7, 1963, on Breaking Point, an ABC medical drama about psychiatry.

Theater[link]

Redford's Broadway debut was in a small role in Tall Story (1959), followed by parts in The Highest Tree (1959) and Sunday in New York (1961). His biggest Broadway success was as the stuffy newlywed husband of Elizabeth Ashley in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1963).

Film[link]

Redford in Barefoot in the Park, 1967

While still largely an unknown, Redford made his screen debut in War Hunt (1962), co-starring with John Saxon in a film set during the last days of the Korean War. This film also marked the debuts of director Sydney Pollack, with whom Redford would often collaborate in the near future, and actor Tom Skerritt. After his Broadway success, he was cast in larger feature roles in movies. He was cast alongside screen legend Alec Guinness in the war comedy Situation Hopeless ... But Not Serious, in which he played a soldier who has to spend years of his life hiding behind enemy lines. In Inside Daisy Clover (1965), which won him a golden globe for best new star, he played a bisexual movie star who marries starlet Natalie Wood, and rejoined her along with Charles Bronson for Pollack's This Property Is Condemned (1966) — again as her lover, though this time in a film which achieved even greater success. The same year saw his first teaming with Jane Fonda, in Arthur Penn's The Chase. This film marked the only time Redford would star with Marlon Brando. Fonda and Redford were paired again in the popular big screen version of Barefoot in the Park (1967)^[3] and were again co-stars much later in Pollack's The Electric Horseman (1979).

After this initial success, Redford became concerned about his blond male stereotype image and turned down roles in Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? and The Graduate. Redford found the property he was looking for in George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), scripted by William Goldman, in which he was paired for the first time with Paul Newman.^[3] The film was a huge success and made him a major bankable star,^[3] cementing his screen image as an intelligent, reliable, sometimes sardonic good guy.

Redford suffered through a few films that did not achieve box office success during this time, including Downhill Racer (1969); Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here (1969); Little Fauss and Big Halsy (1970), and The Hot Rock (1972). But his overall career was flourishing with the critical and box office hit Jeremiah Johnson (1972);^[3] the political satire The Candidate (1972); the hugely popular period drama The Way We Were (1973); and the biggest hit of his career; the blockbuster crime caper The Sting (1973), which became one of the top 20 highest grossing movies of all time when adjusted for inflation and for which he was also nominated for an Oscar.^[3]

Between 1974 and 1976, exhibitors voted Redford Hollywood's top box-office name.^[3] His hits included The Great Gatsby (1974), The Great Waldo Pepper (1975), and Three Days of the Condor (1975). The popular and acclaimed All the President's Men (1976), directed by Alan J. Pakula and scripted once again by Goldman, was a landmark film for Redford. Not only was he the executive producer and co-star, but the film's serious subject matter — the Watergate scandal — and its attempt to create a realistic portrayal of journalism also reflected the actor's offscreen concerns for political causes.^[3]

He also starred in a segment of the war film A Bridge Too Far (1977), the prison drama Brubaker (1980), playing a prison warden attempting to reform the system, and the fantasy baseball drama The Natural (1984).^[3] Redford continued his involvement in mainstream Hollywood movies, though with a newfound focus on directing. The first film he directed, Ordinary People, which followed the disintegration of an upper class American family after the death of a son, was one of the most critically and publicly acclaimed films of the decade, winning a number of Oscars, including the Academy Award for best director for Redford himself. His followup directorial project, The Milagro Beanfield War (1987), failed to generate the same level of attention. Sydney Pollack's Out of Africa (1985), with Redford in the male lead role opposite Meryl Streep, became an enormous critical and box office success and won seven Oscars including Best Picture, proving to be Redford's biggest success of the decade and Redford and Pollack's most successful of their six movies together.^[3] His next film, Legal Eagles (1986), was only a minor success at the box office.

Redford continued as a major star throughout the 1990s and 2000s. He released his third film as a director, A River Runs Through It, in 1992, which was a return to mainstream success for Redford as a director and brought a young Brad Pitt to greater prominence. 1993 brought Redford one of his most popular and recognised roles when he starred as a millionaire businessman who tests people's morals through bribery in Indecent Proposal, which became one of the year's biggest hits. He co-starred with Michelle Pfeiffer in the newsroom romance Up Close & Personal (1996), and with Kristin Scott Thomas in The Horse Whisperer (1998), which he also directed.^[3] Redford also continued work in films with political context, such as Havana (1990), playing Jack Weil, a professional gambler in 1959 Cuba during the Revolution, as well as Sneakers (1992), in which he co starred with the late River Phoenix among others.

He appeared as a disgraced Army general sent to prison in the political thriller The Last Castle (2001), directed by Rod Lurie, someone else with a strong interest in politics. In the same year, Redford reteamed with Brad Pitt for Spy Game, another success for the pair but with Redford switching this time from director to actor. Redford, a leading environmental activist, narrated the IMAX documentary Sacred Planet (2004), a sweeping journey across the globe to some of its most exotic and endangered places. In The Clearing (2004), a thriller co-starring Helen Mirren, Redford was a successful businessman whose kidnapping unearths the secrets and inadequacies that led to his achieving the American Dream.

Redford stepped back into producing with The Motorcycle Diaries (2004), a coming-of-age road film about a young medical student, Ernesto "Che" Guevera, and his friend Alberto Granado. It also explored political and social issues of South America that influenced Guevara and shaped his future. With five years spent in the film's making, Redford was credited by director Walter Salles for being instrumental in getting it made and released.

Back in front of the camera, Redford received good notices for his role in director Lasse Hallstrom's An Unfinished Life (2005) as a cantankerous rancher who is forced to take in his estranged daughter-in-law (Jennifer Lopez) — whom he blames for his son's death — and the granddaughter he never knew he had when they fled an abusive relationship. The film, which sat on the shelf for many months while its distributor Miramax was restructured, was generally dismissed as clichéd and overly sentimental. Meanwhile, Redford returned to familiar territory when he reteamed with Meryl Streep 22 years after they starred in Out of Africa, for his personal project Lions for Lambs (2007), which also starred fellow superstar Tom Cruise. After a great deal of hype, the film opened to mixed reviews and disappointing box office. Redford more recently signed on to direct and star in an update of The Candidate.^{[citation needed]}

Redford appears in the 2011 documentary Buck, where he discusses his experiences with title subject Buck Brannaman during the production of The Horse Whisperer in 1998.

Director[link]

Redford at the 1988 Cannes Film Festival

Redford had long harbored ambitions to work on both sides of the camera. As early as 1969, Redford had served as the executive producer for Downhill Racer.^[3] His first outing as director was in 1980's Ordinary People, a drama about the slow disintegration of an upper-middle class family, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Director.^[3] Redford was credited with obtaining a powerful dramatic performance from Mary Tyler Moore, as well as superb work from Donald Sutherland and Timothy Hutton, who also won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

Redford did not direct again until The Milagro Beanfield War (1988), a well-crafted, though not commercially successful, screen version of John Nichols' acclaimed novel of the Southwest. The Milagro Beanfield War is the story of the people of Milagro, New Mexico (based on the real town of Truchas in northern New Mexico), overcoming big developers who set about to ruin their community and force them out because of tax increases. Other directorial projects have included the period drama A River Runs Through It (1992), based on Norman Maclean's novella, and the exposé Quiz Show (1994), about the quiz show scandal of the late 1950s.^[3] In the latter film, Redford worked from a screenplay by Paul Attanasio with noted cinematographer Michael Ballhaus and a strong cast that featured Paul Scofield, John Turturro, Rob Morrow, and Ralph Fiennes. Redford handpicked Morrow for his part in the film (Morrow's only high-profile feature film role to date), because he liked his work on Northern Exposure. Redford also directed Matt Damon and Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance (2000). In 2010, Redford released The Conspirator, a period drama revolving around the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Despite a subject matter of personal interest to Redford, the film received mixed reviews and proved to be a flop at the box office.

Honors[link]

U.S. President George W. Bush and First Lady Laura Bush pose with the Kennedy Center honorees, from left to right, actress Julie Harris, actor Robert Redford, singer Tina Turner, ballet dancer Suzanne Farrell and singer Tony Bennett on December 4, 2005, during the reception in the Blue Room at the White House.

Redford attended the University of Colorado in the 1950s and received an Honorary Degree in 1983.

In 1995, he received an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree from Bard College. He was a 2002 Lifetime Achievement Award/Honorary Oscar recipient at the 74th Academy Awards.^[6]

In 1996, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.^[7]

In December 2005, he received the Kennedy Center Honors for his contributions to American culture. The Honors recipients are recognized for their lifetime contributions to American culture through the performing arts: whether in dance, music, theater, opera, motion pictures or television.^{[citation needed]}

In 2008 he was awarded The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the richest prizes in the arts, given annually to "a man or woman who has made an outstanding contribution to the beauty of the world and to mankind's enjoyment and understanding of life."^[8]

The University of Southern California (USC) School of Theater announced the first annual Robert Redford Award for Engaged Artists in 2009. According to the school's web site, the award was created "to honor those who have distinguished themselves not only in the exemplary quality, skill and innovation of their work, but also in their public commitment to social responsibility, to increasing awareness of global issues and events, and to inspiring and empowering young people."^[9]

Robert Redford received an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts from Brown University at the 240th Commencement exercises on May 25, 2008.^[10] He also spoke during the ceremonies.

On 14 October 2010, he was appointed Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur.^[11]

Sundance[link]

With the financial proceeds of his acting success, starting with his salaries from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Downhill Racer, Redford bought an entire ski area on the east side of Mount Timpanogos northeast of Provo, Utah, called "Timp Haven", which was renamed "Sundance".^[3] Redford's wife Lola was from Utah and they had built a home in the area in 1963. Portions of the movie Jeremiah Johnson (1972), a film which is both one of Redford's favorites and one that has heavily influenced him, were shot near the ski area. He founded the Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Institute, Sundance Cinemas, Sundance Catalog, and the Sundance Channel, all in and around Park City, Utah, 30 miles (48 km) north of the Sundance ski area.^[3] The Sundance Film Festival caters to independent filmmakers in the United States and has received recognition from the industry as a place to open films. In 2008, Sundance exhibited 125 feature-length films from 34 countries, with more than 50,000 attendees.^[12] The name Sundance comes from his Sundance Kid character. In addition, Redford owns a celebrated restaurant called Zoom, located on Main Street in the former mining town of Park City.

Mount Timpanogos, panoramic view

Independent films[link]

Since founding the nonprofit Sundance Institute in Park City, in 1981, Redford has been deeply involved with independent film.^[3] Through its various workshop programs and popular film festival, Sundance has provided much-needed support for independent filmmakers. In 1995, Redford signed a deal with Showtime to start a 24-hour cable television channel devoted to airing independent films — the Sundance Channel premiered on February 29, 1996.

Personal life[link]

On August 9, 1958, in Las Vegas, Nevada, Redford married Lola Van Wagenen, who dropped out of college to marry him. They had four children: Scott Anthony, David James "Jamie", Shauna, and Amy Redford.

Son Jamie Redford is a writer/producer.^[13]

Scott — their first child — was born September 1, 1959, and died of sudden infant death syndrome on November 17, 1959, at age 2½ months. His remains have been buried at Provo City Cemetery in Provo, Utah. Lola and Redford divorced in 1985. He has five grandchildren: Dylan and Lena Redford (of son Jamie), Mica and Conor Schlosser (of daughter Shauna) and Eden August (of daughter Amy).^[14]

In July 2009, Redford married his longtime partner, Sibylle Szaggars, at the luxurious Louis C. Jacob Hotel in Hamburg, Germany. She had moved in with Redford in the 1990s and shares his Sundance, Utah, home.^[15] In May 2011 Alfred A Knopf published Robert Redford: The Biography by Michael Feeney Callan, written over fifteen years with Redford's input, and drawn from his personal papers and diaries.

Political activity[link]

Redford with New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson in 2009

Redford is politically liberal, and has supported environmentalism, Native American rights, and the arts. He has been noted as "an admirer of Edward Abbey, the late great anarchist voice of the desert Southwest."^[16] Most of his federal political contributions have been to Democrats (61%) or advocacy groups (34.6%), such as the Political Action Committee of the Directors Guild of America.^[17] Redford has on occasion also supported Republicans, including Brent Cornell Morris in his unsuccessful 1990 race for Utah's 3rd congressional district seat.^[17][18] Redford also supported Gary R. Herbert, another Republican and a friend, in Herbert's successful campaign to be elected Utah's Lieutenant Governor (he is currently the Governor of Utah). Redford is an avid environmentalist and is a trustee of the Natural Resources Defense Council. Redford has been a vocal critic of Barack Obama for his lack of follow-through on environmental policies. He wrote, "One reason I supported President Obama is because he said we must protect clean air, water and lands. But what good is it to say the right thing unless you act on it?" ^[19]

Filmography[link]

Actor[link]

Director[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Robert Redford

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Robert Redford

• Movie, Museum Exhibits Shine New Light on US Civil War is an April 2011 radio and internet report on the Robert Redford movie "The Conspirator." The report aired on Voice of America and was written by VOA's Special English branch.
• Redford interviewed about his life, independent film making and political activism. January 2010, 45 minute video and audio interview with transcript.
• Cinema Retro covers Robert Redford at Trinity College in Dublin
• Robert Redford at the Internet Movie Database
• Sundance Resort
• The Sundance Institute
• Robert Redford slideshow at AMCtv.com
• Redford Teams up to Train Minority Filmmakers NY Daily News, May 15, 2009
• Robert Redford: Through the Years — slideshow by Life magazine

Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino at the Berlin Film Festival in February 2009
Born	Quentin Jerome Tarantino (1963-03-27) March 27, 1963 (age 49) Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Occupation	Film director, producer, screenwriter, cinematographer, actor
Years active	1988–present
Notable work(s)	Pulp Fiction, Jackie Brown, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, Inglourious Basterds
Influenced by	Sergio Leone, Brian De Palma, Howard Hawks, John Woo, Jim Jarmusch, Jean-Luc Godard, Elmore Leonard, Samuel Fuller, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, David Lynch, Sam Peckinpah, Jack Hill, Douglas Sirk, Jean-Pierre Melville, Enzo G. Castellari, Sergio Corbucci[1]

Quentin Jerome Tarantino^[2] (pronunciation: /ˌtærənˈtiːnoʊ/; born March 27, 1963) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. He has received many industry awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, a BAFTA and the Palme d'Or and had been nominated for an Emmy and Grammy.

Born in Knoxville, Tennessee, Tarantino was an avid film fan. His career began in the late 1980's, when he wrote and directed My Best Friend's Birthday. Its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence. His films include Reservoir Dogs (1992), Pulp Fiction (1994), Jackie Brown (1997), Kill Bill (2003, 2004), Death Proof (2007), and Inglourious Basterds (2009).

His movies are generally characterized by stylistic influences from grindhouse, kung fu, and spaghetti western films. Tarantino also frequently collaborates with his friend and fellow filmmaker Robert Rodriguez.

Early life[link]

Tarantino was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, the son of Tony Tarantino, an actor and amateur musician who was born in Queens, New York, and Connie McHugh, a nurse.^[3] Tarantino's father is of Italian descent and his mother is of Irish and Cherokee ancestry.^[4][5][6] He was raised by his mother, as his parents separated before his birth.^[7] When he was two years old, he moved to Torrance, California and later to the Harbor City neighborhood where he went to Fleming Junior High School in Lomita and took drama classes.^[7] He attended Narbonne High School in Harbor City for his freshman year before dropping out of school at age 15, to attend an acting class full time at the James Best Theater Company in Toluca Lake.^[8] Quentin grew bored with the James Best Acting School and quit after two years, although he made a point of keeping in touch with all his acting friends. Then he landed a job which threatened to interfere with his long-term acting ambitions. ^[9]

As an employee of the Video Archives, a now-defunct video rental store in Manhattan Beach, he and fellow movie enthusiasts, including Roger Avary, discussed cinema and customer video recommendations at length. He paid close attention to the types of films people liked to rent and has cited that experience as inspiration for his directorial career.^[10] Tarantino has been quoted as saying, "When people ask me if I went to film school I tell them, 'no, I went to films.'"^[4]

Film career[link]

After Tarantino met Lawrence Bender at a Hollywood party, Bender encouraged him to write a screenplay. Tarantino directed and co-wrote a movie called My Best Friend's Birthday in 1987. The final reel of the film was almost fully destroyed in a lab fire that occurred during editing but its screenplay would form the basis for True Romance. In January 1992, Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs screened at the Sundance Film Festival and was an immediate hit. The film garnered critical acclaim. Reservoir Dogs was a dialogue-driven heist movie that set the tone for his later films. Tarantino wrote the script in three and a half weeks and Bender forwarded it to director Monte Hellman. Hellman helped Tarantino to secure funding from Richard Gladstein at Live Entertainment (which later became Artisan). Harvey Keitel read the script and also contributed to funding, taking a co-producer role, and a part in the movie.^[11]

Tarantino has had a number of collaborations with director Robert Rodriguez.

Tarantino's screenplay True Romance was optioned and eventually released in 1993. The second script that Tarantino sold was Natural Born Killers, which was revised by Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski and director Oliver Stone. Tarantino was given story credit, and wished the film well.^[12] Following the success of Reservoir Dogs, Tarantino was approached by Hollywood and offered numerous projects, including Speed and Men in Black. He instead retreated to Amsterdam to work on his script for Pulp Fiction. After Pulp Fiction was completed, he then directed Episode Four of Four Rooms, "The Man from Hollywood", a tribute to the Alfred Hitchcock Presents episode that starred Steve McQueen. Four Rooms was a collaborative effort with filmmakers Allison Anders, Alexandre Rockwell, and Robert Rodriguez. The film was very poorly received by critics. He appeared in and wrote the script for Robert Rodriguez's From Dusk Till Dawn, which saw mixed reviews from the critics yet led to two sequels, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez would only serve as executive producers.

Tarantino's third feature film was Jackie Brown (1997), an adaptation of Rum Punch, a novel by Elmore Leonard. A homage to blaxploitation films, it starred Pam Grier, who starred in many of that genre's films of the 1970s. He had then planned to make the war film provisionally titled Inglourious Bastards, but postponed it to write and direct Kill Bill (released as two films, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2), a highly stylized "revenge flick" in the cinematic traditions of Wuxia (Chinese martial arts), Jidaigeki (Japanese period cinema), Spaghetti Westerns and Italian horror. It was based on a character (The Bride) and a plot that he and Kill Bill's lead actress, Uma Thurman, had developed during the making of Pulp Fiction. In 2004, Tarantino returned to Cannes, where he served as President of the Jury. Although Kill Bill was not in competition, Vol. 2 had an evening screening, while it was also shown on the morning of the final day in its original 3-hour-plus version with Quentin himself attending the full screening. Tarantino then went on to be credited as "Special Guest Director" in Robert Rodriguez's 2005 neo-noir film Sin City for his work directing the car sequence featuring Clive Owen and Benicio del Toro.

The next film project was Grindhouse, which he co-directed with Rodriguez. Released in theaters on April 6, 2007, Tarantino's contribution to the Grindhouse project was titled Death Proof. It began as a take on 1970s slasher films,^[13] but evolved dramatically as the project unfolded. Ticket sales were low despite mostly positive reviews.

Among his producing credits are the horror flick Hostel (which included numerous references to his own Pulp Fiction), the adaptation of Elmore Leonard's Killshot (for which Tarantino was credited as an executive producer although Tarantino was no longer associated with the film after its 2009 release.)^[14] and Hell Ride (written and directed by Larry Bishop, who appeared in Kill Bill Vol. 2).

Tarantino's 2009 film Inglourious Basterds is the story of a group of guerrilla U.S. soldiers in Nazi-occupied France during World War II. Filming began in October 2008.^[15] The film opened on August 21, 2009 to very positive reviews^[16] and the #1 spot at the box office worldwide.^[17] It went on to become Tarantino's highest grossing film, both in the United States and worldwide.^[18]

In 2011, production began on Django Unchained, about the revenge of a slave on his former master. The film stemmed from Tarantino's desire to produce a spaghetti western set in America's Deep South; Tarantino has called the proposed style "a southern",^[19] stating that he wanted "to do movies that deal with America's horrible past with slavery and stuff but do them like spaghetti westerns, not like big issue movies. I want to do them like they're genre films, but they deal with everything that America has never dealt with because it's ashamed of it, and other countries don't really deal with because they don't feel they have the right to".^[19] Tarantino finished the script on April 26, 2011, and handed in the final draft to The Weinstein Company.^[20] Agency William Morris Endeavor reported Christoph Waltz was cast to play a German bounty hunter,^[21] with Stacey Sher, Pilar Savone, and Reginald Hudlin producing. Although Will Smith and Idris Elba were heavily rumored to be up for the title role, Jamie Foxx has since been confirmed to play Django.^[22] Tarantino regular Samuel L. Jackson will play Stephen, a house slave. Leonardo DiCaprio has also been officially cast in the role of Calvin Candie, the primary antagonist in the film. Kevin Costner had been cast as Ace Woody, a "vile and sadistic trainer of slaves who are forced to fight in death matches for a plantation owner (DiCaprio)" before he later dropped out due to scheduling conflicts, and has been replaced by Kurt Russell.^[23] Kerry Washington has been cast as Broomhilda, the "long-suffering slave wife of Django."^[24] Other cast members include Dennis Christopher as Candie family lawyer Leonide 'Leo' Moguy, Laura Cayouette as Candie's sister, Lara Lee Candie-Fitzwilly, M.C. Gainey and Tom Savini as Big John and Ellis Brittle, two of the slave owners who separate Django and Broomhilda, Anthony LaPaglia and Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Australian brothers, Jano and an unnamed character, respectively,^[25] who encounter Django while escorting slaves to a fight.^[26][27] However, Gordon-Levitt has not fully committed to the film, due to possible scheduling issues,^{[28][29][30][31]} and Gerald McRaney and Michael K. Williams in unknown roles. Tarantino-collaborator RZA was cast as a slave named Thadeus. According to ReservoirWatchDogs.com, Sacha Baron Cohen was cast in the role as gambler Scotty Harmony who wishes to purchase Django's wife from Calvin Candie.^[32] Reportedly, Tarantino is also interested in including Lady Gaga in the film to some degree.^[33] The film is said to be inspired by the 1966 film Django, directed by Sergio Corbucci. James Remar is also involved in the film. The film is scheduled to be released on December 25, 2012.

Producer[link]

In recent years, Tarantino has used his Hollywood power to give smaller and foreign films more attention than they might have received otherwise. These films are usually labeled "Presented by Quentin Tarantino" or "Quentin Tarantino Presents". The first of these productions was in 2001 with the Hong Kong martial arts film Iron Monkey which made over $14 million in the United States, seven times its budget. In 2004 he brought the Chinese martial arts film Hero to U.S. shores. It ended up having a #1 opening at the box office and making $53.5 million. In 2006, the latest "Quentin Tarantino presents" production, Hostel, opened at #1 at the box office with a $20.1 million opening weekend, good for 8th all time in January. He presented 2006's The Protector, and is a producer of the (2007) film Hostel: Part II. in 2008 he produced the Larry Bishop helmed Hell Ride, a revenge biker film.^[34]

In addition, in 1995 Tarantino formed Rolling Thunder Pictures with Miramax as a vehicle to release or re-release several independent and foreign features. By 1997, Miramax shut down the company due to "lack of interest" in the pictures released. The following films were released by Rolling Thunder Pictures: Chungking Express (1994, dir. Wong Kar-wai), Switchblade Sisters (1975, dir. Jack Hill), Sonatine (1993, dir. Takeshi Kitano), Hard Core Logo (1996, dir. Bruce McDonald), The Mighty Peking Man (1977, dir. Ho Meng-Hua), Detroit 9000 (1973, dir. Arthur Marks), The Beyond (1981, dir. Lucio Fulci) and Curdled (1996, dir. Reb Braddock).