Most painfully of all, there was no Robert Redford at Sundance 2026—at least, not in the flesh. The actor and filmmaker died in September at his home near the Sundance Mountain Resort, a forty-five-minute drive from Park City. He nonetheless remained a spectral, frequently acknowledged presence. Every screening kicked off with a video tribute to him, and each replay drove home the sheer heroic improbability of what Redford had accomplished. Here was a Hollywood legend who carved out a rocky, high-altitude perch from which a different kind of film artist—one less beholden to the Hollywood doctrine of the bottom line—might emerge. The Utah/U.S. Film Festival, as it was then known, began in Park City in 1978. In 1980, Redford founded the Sundance Institute, the non-profit organization that now oversees the festival and, through year-round labs and workshops, has nurtured several new generations of indie moviemaking talent.