Day One: Sundance Remembers Redford’s Legacy “Everyone Has a Story”

To kick off this landmark year for the Sundance Film Festival, the Sundance Institute held their 2026 Press Welcome Event, bringing members of the media together with the Institute leadership team for an evening of connection and reflection. The room buzzed with excitement while also honoring the enduring legacy that shapes the Sundance Film Festival’s spirit. This year’s Festival is a meaningful tribute to Robert Redford and his vision that has inspired generations of artists and redefined cinema around the world. It is also celebrating its rich history and shared experiences in Utah over the last four decades.

Guests in the room were moved by a special video tribute that perfectly captured the Festival’s journey and energy. There was a palpable mix of celebration and nostalgia with an appreciation for the stories, community, and creative energy that have defined Sundance for decades, and a shared enthusiasm for the years ahead.

Attendees were also buzzing about this year’s awards season, which has featured many Sundance Institute-supported artists and films. Today’s Academy Award nominations continue that momentum with all five Best Documentary nominated films premiering at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival (note: 9 of the last 10 noms have premiered at the Festival); 3 of the 5 Best Directors came through the the Institute’s signature labs and 4 of 5 have Sundance Institute/Film Festival connections; and finally several narrative films premiered at last year’s Festival with multiple nominations across various categories including Train Dreams, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You and The Ugly Stepsister.

Amy Redford opened the event by saying, “This year’s theme is ‘Everyone Has a Story,’ which were words directly out of my dad’s mouth on more than one occasion” she heartily noted, “There is loss, but there is also opportunity. To remember what he did, and why, and carry it with us into our choices.”

Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute Board Chair, shined a light on the Institute’s year round work saying, “What the world sees over these 11 days is only a part of the Sundance Institute’s year-round work to discover, to nurture, and to invest in independent artists and their stories.” and “Artists who get their start at the Sundance Institute and at the Film Festival go on to shape storytelling, independent cinema and our collective culture.”

Eugene Hernandez, Festival Director and Head of Public Programming reiterated this year’s theme saying, “Starting tomorrow and for the next 11 days together, we’ll see the stories of our artists on the screen, and we’ll learn the stories behind their stories. Those stories will bring us together and connect us. They will move us.” As a former member of the press himself, he thanked the press saying, “The Sundance Film Festival would not be what it is today without the press and independent film wouldn’t have the attention it does without your support. All of you are such an essential part of our legacy and our future.”

Eugene also shared a heartfelt tribute for the late Tammie Rosen, the Sundance Institute’s Chief Communications Officer.

 

Michelle Satter, Founding Senior Director of Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs, highlighted the Sundance Labs saying “Many of you here are familiar with our artist program, but I want to just talk about some that have developed their first and second features here and also got to show their movies and premiere at the festival. Lulu Wang, the Daniels, Sean Hayder, Wes Anderson, Gregor Rocky, Darren Aronofsky, Miranda July, James Mangold, Ira Sachs, Quentin Tarantino, Charlotte Wells, and many, many more.” and “The alum that we’ve supported, who have been receiving awards, it’s so exciting to us. We supported them on their first features, PT Anderson, Ryan Kugler, Chloe Zhao, NIA de Costa. What a privilege for us. I’m also going to mention Guillermo del Toro because Sundance did labs and he was at our first lab in Mexico”

Kim Yutani, Director of Programming of the Sundance Film Festival, highlighted some of this year’s programming including, “Films like Josephine, Ha Chan Shake Your booty, Hot Water and we have some extraordinary documentaries that we can’t wait for you to see like American Doctor, The Lake, Seized, Everybody to Kenmure Street and Cookie Queens. We also have incredible comedies like Gail Daughtry and the Celebrity Sex Pass if you aren’t convinced already by that title, The Invite by Olivia Wilde, History of Concrete, and Wicker. We’re also so excited to have these significant cultural figures at our festival. We have Salman Rushdie, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Billie Jean King, Brittney Griner, Courtney Love, and this is not news to anybody, but Charlie XCX is in three films this year.”

Kim also made an announcement at the event saying, “Norah Jones and Rufus Wainwright will be performing after the screening of Broken English on Sunday. We hope you check that out.”

John Nein, Senior Programmer and Director of Strategic Initiatives, highlighted the Legacy program sharing, “We also have a wonderful group of repertory screenings [this year], which in a way is an extension of our film preservation program. They’re almost all brand new restorations. We have Little Miss Sunshine 20th anniversary screening of one of the most iconic films that will reunite most of the cast, producers, filmmakers, Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Ferris. Guillermo del Toro’s first feature film, Chronos, which played here in 1993. A brand new restoration of Reggie Hedlund’s House Party, which is one of those films that people don’t necessarily associate with Sundance, but it played here in 1990. A beautiful restoration of Greg Araki’s Mysterious Skin with Joseph Gordon Levitt returning to a festival that is very tied to his career both as an actor and as an artist,” among many others.

The Festival is taking place from January 22–February 1, 2026, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, with a selection of titles available online beginning on January 29, 2026. Tickets can be purchased at festival.sundance.org/tickets.