Sundance kicks off in Utah with powerful premieres and emotional tributes to Robert Redford

PARK CITY, Utah — Robert Redford liked to say that everybody has a story. He's not the only person who said it, but he is one of the few who did something to celebrate it, his daughter, Amy Redford, said Wednesday evening ahead of the Sundance Film Festival's opening day. Thanks to her father's vision, the Sundance Institute he founded and its year-round programs have helped shape and nurture American independent film for the past 40 years. This year's Sundance Film Festival is a grand goodbye party: It's the first without Redford following his death in September, and the last in Utah before the festival relocates to Boulder, Colorado. "This is a festival of new beginnings and endings," his daughter said in an interview with The Associated Press. "I'm going to look around and drink it up and enjoy it and just not take anything for granted." Robert Redford's legacy and Sundance's decades-long history in Utah are key themes of the 2026 festival, which began Thursday morning with over a dozen films premiering throughout the day. Screenings were preceded by a short video tribute to Redford, which was met with roaring applause at the Eccles Theater Thursday morning. With the dust settled from Oscar nominations, the festival is in full swing with the world premieres of Amir Bar-Lev's documentary "The Last First: Winter K2" about the changing culture of extreme mountain climbing, Rachel Lambert's tender drama "Carousel," starring Chris Pine and Jenny Slate, and Judd Apatow's portrait of comedian Maria Bamford's mental health journey on the opening day list. Also upcoming is David Alvarado's "American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez" about the legacy of the playwright and director, and Joanna Natasegara's "The Disciple," which delves into the stranger-than-fiction story of how Dutch-Moroccan record producer Cilvaringz found his way into the inner circle of the Wu-Tang Clan. "Too Many Cooks" creator Casper Kelly will also debut his midnight movie "Buddy," starring Cristin Milioti, about escaping a children's television show. "Tuner" director Daniel Roher teared up on stage as he introduced the film and dedicated the screening to Rob and Michele Reiner. He said they were amazing mentors and the last time he saw them was at his baby shower. Rob gave him notes on the script for "Tuner," which premiered at Telluride in September That opening day overlapped with Oscar nominations was not entirely disconnected from Sundance. All of the documentary nominees premiered at last year's festival, and several 2025 Sundance premieres had nominations in different categories including "Train Dreams," "If I Had Legs I'd Kick You" and "The Ugly Stepsister." Also, three of the five best director nominees, Paul Thomas Anderson, Chloé Zhao and Ryan Coogler, came up through the institute's labs programs, mentored by Michelle Satter. "The artists you might see here at Eccles stage might be on the Oscars stage in the future," Amy Redford said. The Sundance Film Festival runs through Feb. 1.