Sundance

A sun dance is a Native American ceremony. Sun dance or Sundance may also refer to:

Places

People

Art, entertainment, and media

Films

Film festival

A film festival is an organized, extended presentation of films in one or more cinemas or screening venues, usually in a single city or region. Increasingly, film festivals show some films outdoors. Films may be of recent date and, depending upon the festival's focus, can include international and domestic releases. Some festivals focus on a specific film-maker or genre (e.g., film noir) or subject matter (e.g., horror film festivals). A number of film festivals specialise in short films of a defined maximum length. Film festivals are typically annual events. Some film historians do not consider Film Festivals as official releases of film, like Jerry Beck. The best known film festivals are the Venice Film Festival, the Cannes Film Festival, the Toronto Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, and the Berlin International Film Festival, the latter being the largest film festival worldwide, based on attendance. The Venice Film Festival is the oldest major festival. The Melbourne International Film Festival is the largest film festival in the Southern Hemisphere and one of the oldest in the world. A 2013 study found 3,000 active films festivals worldwide—active defined as having held an event in the previous 24 months.

Sundance Film Festival

The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the Sundance Institute, is an American film festival that takes place annually in Utah. With 46,731 attendees in 2012, it is the largest independent film festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival comprises competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature-length films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, and Park City At Midnight. The 2016 Sundance Film Festival took place January 21 to January 31, 2016.

History

Utah/US Film Festival

Sundance began in Salt Lake City in August 1978, as the Utah/US Film Festival in an effort to attract more filmmakers to Utah. It was founded by Sterling Van Wagenen (then head of Wildwood, Robert Redford's company), John Earle, and Cirina Hampton Catania (both serving on the Utah Film Commission at the time). The 1978 festival featured films such as Deliverance, A Streetcar Named Desire, Midnight Cowboy, Mean Streets, and The Sweet Smell of Success. With chairman Robert Redford, and the help of Utah Governor Scott M. Matheson, the goal of the festival was to showcase strictly American-made films, highlight the potential of independent film, and to increase visibility for filmmaking in Utah. At the time, the main focus of the event was to conduct a competition for independent American films, present a series of retrospective films and filmmaker panel discussions, and to celebrate the Frank Capra Award. The festival also highlighted the work of regional filmmakers who worked outside the Hollywood system.

Robert Redford

Charles Robert Redford Jr. (born August 18, 1936), known professionally as Robert Redford, is an American actor, director, producer, businessman, environmentalist, and philanthropist. He is the founder of the Sundance Film Festival. He has received two Academy Awards: one in 1981 for directing Ordinary People, and one for Lifetime Achievement in 2002. In 2010, he was made a chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur.

Redford's career began in 1960 as a guest star on numerous TV programs, including The Untouchables, Perry Mason, Alfred Hitchcock Presents, and The Twilight Zone, among others. He earned an Emmy nomination as Best Supporting Actor for his performance in The Voice of Charlie Pont (1962). His biggest Broadway success was as the stuffy newlywed husband of Elizabeth Ashley in Neil Simon's Barefoot in the Park (1963).

Redford made his film debut in War Hunt (1962). His role in Inside Daisy Clover (1965) won him a Golden Globe for best new star. He starred in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), which was a huge success and made him a major star. In 1972, he had a critical and box office hit with Jeremiah Johnson (1972), and in 1973 had the biggest hit of his career, the blockbuster crime caper The Sting, for which he was also nominated for an Academy Award. The popular and acclaimed All the President's Men (1976) was a landmark film for Redford.

Sundance Cinemas

Sundance Cinemas LLC is a movie theatre chain owned by Robert Redford's Sundance Group that aims to showcase independent, documentary and foreign-language films as well as some studio projects. Its headquarters is in Westlake Village, California.

The first cinema, Sundance 608, opened May 11, 2007 at the Hilldale Shopping Center in Madison, Wisconsin, and contains six stadium-seated auditoriums, along with a cafe, bistro, bar, rooftop bar, and Gallery 608, which sells local and Sundance-related arts and merchandise. A second cinema, the Sundance Kabuki located in Japantown in San Francisco, California, re-opened on December 14, 2007 after being an AMC theater. Sundance Cinema's third theater, Sundance Cinemas Houston, is located within the Bayou Place development in downtown Houston, Texas. The new 8-screen theater opened in November 2011 after a $2.25 million renovation. The Sundance website shows additional locations in Seattle and West Hollywood. On October 6, 2015 it was announced that Carmike Cinemas has acquired Sundance Cinemas for $36 million in cash, effective immediately.