Sundance 2012 Opening Press Conference

Sundance Institute founder and president Robert Redford made it perfectly clear last Thursday that “Sundance is not Park City, Utah but a place where this all started back in the 1980s when I started up the labs”. The labs Mr. Redford referenced take place at the Sundance resort some 40 miles away from Park City. The festival he explained is part of the Sundance Institute but its more meaningful function is conducting the filmmaker laboratories which run all year long.  “We have documentary labs, short film labs, producer labs, all those elements that have to do with storytelling”. Redford explained that over the past 28 years our mission has never changed: “It is to creating a platform for independent artists to show their work”.  Redford’s annual address to the press was followed by remarks from Keri Putnam, Executive Director of the Sundance Institute and John Cooper, Director of the Sundance Film Festival which runs through Sunday January 29th.

“It is no secret that times are dark and grim and in addition to that, we’re suffering from a government that is in paralysis” said Redford who pointed out that the festival would proceed as normal. Executive Director Putnam added that “independent  films have the ability to move, inform and inspire people and make change”.

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