Rebel Redford Revamps Sundance

January 22, 2010 Patrick Hickey Jr. Film 0

With a strong desire to reinvigorate his long-running independent film festival, Robert Redford has changed a few pieces of the puzzle this year.

Focusing on diversity and a new found energy on his staff, Redford has given more attention to international films and has given John Cooper an opportunity as the director of the festival, replacing Geoffrey Gilmore, who in February to joined Tribeca Enterprises as its Chief Creative Officer.

“We’re making a return to the place where we first started,” said Redford yesterday at a press conference that officially kicked off Sundance’s 32nd year. “To see it as if it was the first time. That pretty much spells out what our festival is going to be about this year. We’re going back to our roots. Where fresh new ideas were and where new voices came from.”

Believing that the country’s economic woes could possibly keep the glamor away this year, Redford stated that he still felt as if the festival wouldn’t be free of the elements, such as the “self-promotion and swag-driven parties” that he feels should never be associated with the festival. Nonetheless, he hopes that by getting back to the basics and promoting quality work, this year’s slate of films will cast a larger shadow than any distractions that appeared in the past.

“Paris Hilton,” he said. “What was she doing here?”

Afterward, Redford expressed his thoughts on the future of the festival and even shared stories about his career, making no qualms about how important the festival is to him and the entire independent film community.

A community that the former Oscar-winner sees in a constant struggle.

“Our job is to get these films seen by as many people as possible, starting with the festival” Redford said. “To create other opportunities for them to be seen and to help that struggle that’s always been there. It probably always will be, but I think it will survive.”

Photo by Patrick Hickey Jr.

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About Patrick Hickey Jr. 14229 Articles
Patrick Hickey Jr. is a full-time Assistant Professor of Communication & Performing Arts and Director of the Journalism program at Kingsborough Community College and is the chairman of the City University of New York Journalism Council. He is the Founder and Editor-In-Chief of ReviewFix.com. He's also a former News Editor at NBC Local Integrated Media and National Video Games Writer at Examiner.com where his work was mentioned in National Ad campaigns by Disney, Nintendo and EA Sports. Hickey was also the Editor-In-Chief of two College Newspapers before he received his BA in Journalism from Brooklyn College. Hickey's work has been published in The New York Daily News, The New York Times, Complex, The Hockey Writers, Yahoo!, Broadway World, Examiner, NYSportScene Magazine, ProHockeyNews.com, GothamBaseball.com, The Syracuse Post-Standard, Scout.com and the official sites of the Brooklyn Aces and New York Islanders. His first book, The Minds Behind the Games: Interviews With Cult And Classic Video Game Developers was released in April 2018 and is chock full of interviews with legendary developers. His second book in the series, The Minds Behind Adventures Games, was released in December 2019. His third book, The Minds Behind Sports Games, was released in September 2020. His fourth book, The Minds Behind Shooter Games, was released in March 2021. The Minds Behind Sega Genesis Games and The Minds Behind PlayStation Games were released in 2022 and The Minds Behind PlayStation 2 was published in January 2023. Hickey is also a contracted comic book writer, currently penning his original series, "Condrey," as well as "The Job," "Brooklyn Bleeds" "Dem Gulls" and "KROOM" for Legacy Comix, where he serves as founder, owner and Editor-in-Chief. Hickey Jr. is also a voice actor, having starred in the 2018 indie hit and 2019 Switch, PS4 and Xbox One release, The Padre (also serving as English language Story Editor), from Shotgun With Glitters. The sequel, The Padre: One Shell Straight to Hell was released in February 2021- Hickey also served as a Story Editor and Lead Voiceover performer. He has also done narration and trailers for several other titles including The Kaiju Offensive, Relentless Rex and Roniu’s Tale. Hickey is also the lead voiceover performer on Mega Cat Studios’ upcoming title WrestleQuest, responsible for nearly 90 characters in the game, as well as Skybound's Renfield: Bring Your Own Blood, where he voices both Dracula and Renfield, as well as several other characters. He also stars in Ziggurat Interactive’s World Championship Boxing Manager 2, where he performs the VO of nearly every male character in the game. He also worked on the Atari VCS’s BPM Boy.

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