robert redford Redford has gotten more vocal about his political opinions over the last few years from the stage of the Egyptian, making the opening-day meet and greet a lot more entertaining than what we've been used to seeing in the past from both this festival press conference and a host of others (which normally espouse the importance of indie cinema, the importance of global cinema, etc.)With five days left to the Bush II era, Redford wasn't going to let any opportunities pass him by. He shied away from the potential Prop 8 boycott of Sundance (just said there was diversity in the films, etc. so it was surprising that anyone would target the festival) but that's understandable, given the trickiness of the lines he has to walk -- he doesn't want to go after the Prop 8 protesters, since he presumably agrees with their politics, but he wants to defend his festival too.
So he took the path of fewer words.But discretion blew away like a mound of loose power when politics came up. First he made a few quips -- eg "For a lame duck he's been quacking a lot." Then at the opening-night ceremony, he actually opened with a political riff."Fear. Worry angst...I'm not talking about what you think I might be talking abut" (which we presume was something related to a film). "I'm talking about what's going to be exiting the national stage Tuesday and what's going to be coming in to its place." It didn't seem hugely connected to movies, though he did make a noble segue when he said that times of changes wold be inspiring for artists generally.All of which is fair enough. But what will happen next year, or three/seven following when Obama is in office? What will the Sundance chief go to for color and entertainment then? Redford may have the Jon Stewart problem -- which means we ne
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