Hollywood veteran Robert Redford moved his Sundance film festival from Utah’s snowy mountains to London, in a bid to kick start an international expansion of the event.
Music and cinema look like they could be the next hybrid
Sundance London, a smaller version of the US film festival set up by the actor and director in 1985, is showcasing 22 films as well as a string of live music performances at the 02 Arena in the southast of the capital.
“Music and cinema look like they could be the next hybrid,” Mr Redford, 75, said at a press conference at the 02.
The star of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid added that the London gala would be a “scaled down version of what we do in the mountains in Utah”, where Sundance has grown into the United States’ biggest independent film festival.
“I was reluctant to see us go out until the time was really right, and it felt like it was,” he said.
Sundance London, which runs until tomorrow, is hosting the British premieres of 14 American feature-length movies and eight short films originally screened at its US sister festival.
Several documentaries are on the programme, including The Queen of Versailles, Lauren Greenfield’s portrait of the American dream, and The House I Live In, Eugene Jarecki’s critique of the US government’s war on drugs.
Britain’s heir to the throne Prince Charles introduced Harmony, a documentary calling for greater environmental protection, which he has narrated.
British rockers Placebo are among the musical acts performing. Mr Redford, who established Sundance as a counterweight to big-ticket Hollywood events, aims to cast the spotlight on lesser-known film-makers.
“The main objective that we started with is to create opportunities for new artistes and new voices to be heard,” Mr Redford said.
But there were no films on the programme shot in 3D, a trend Mr Redford pronounced himself “not a particular fan of”.
Sundance, which has launched the careers of film-makers including Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh and brothers Ethan and Joel Cohen, takes place in Utah’s Park City ski resort every January. The 02 Arena, or the North Greenwich Arena as it will be known during the Olympic Games, which open in London on July 27, is hosting the Olympic basketball matches as well as the artistic and trampoline gymnastics events.