PARK CITY, UTAH, NOVEMBER 12, 2026 — The nonprofit Sundance Institute today announced details for the 2026 Sundance Film Festival’s annual fundraiser, Celebrating Sundance Institute: A Tribute to Founder Robert Redford, taking place on Friday, January 23, 2026, at the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in Utah. The evening will honor Sundance Institute’s Founder, Robert Redford — his legacy, vision, and enduring mission to support independent storytellers. In paying tribute this year, the inaugural Robert Redford Luminary Award will be established and presented to Ed Harris and Gyula Gazdag, two artists deeply dedicated to the Sundance Institute labs and committed to elevating bold storytellers. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival will be held from January 22–February 1, 2026, in person in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, with the at-home program available online from January 29–February 1, 2026, for audiences across the country.

Guests will come together to celebrate Robert Redford and the profound impact of his vision in nurturing independent voices and the next generation of filmmakers through Sundance Institute’s year-round artist programs, Sundance Film Festival, Sundance Collab, and beyond. For over four decades, the Institute — a nonprofit he founded in 1981 to discover and develop groundbreaking artists — has shaped independent cinema and uplifted the power of storytelling and will continue to carry forward that mission.

The Robert Redford Luminary Award recognizes and celebrates individuals who have, in a visionary way, used their resources, insights, and reach to create possibility where there wasn’t, thus doing their part to make the world a better place. Harris and Gazdag will be acknowledged for their decades-long contributions as creative advisors for the Sundance Institute Directors Lab, where they offer guidance to artists as they develop and refine their projects and skills as writers and directors in a nurturing, immersive environment. They will be honored for their dedication to Robert Redford’s vision of elevating new voices, championing independent storytelling, and upholding that artistic endeavor for years to come. 

“This will be a profoundly meaningful year for Sundance Institute as we honor our Founder, Robert Redford. This special evening supports the mission that he built this organization upon,” said Ebs Burnough, Sundance Institute Board Chair. “This annual event enables the nonprofit Institute to continue to launch and uplift the work of independent artists from all over the world through labs, grants, and public programs. We look forward to our guests joining us in honoring and celebrating the vision that we will carry forward.”

“We are immensely honored to recognize the legacy of Robert Redford through this annual event,” said Amanda Kelso, Acting CEO of Sundance Institute. “We are pleased to introduce the Robert Redford Luminary Award to Ed Harris and Gyula Gazdag, who have played crucial roles in the Sundance Institute labs for over two decades and strongly exemplify the mission that Mr. Redford set for the organization. By dedicating their time to mentoring artists and collaborating with the fellows who have come through the labs, they have been influential in the development of generations of filmmakers. We are proud to continue this important work with them.”

Ed Harris has an acclaimed film, television, and theater career spanning five decades. He is a four-time Academy Award nominee, a two-time Golden Globe winner, and an Emmy nominee for his performances in The Hours, The Truman Show, Apollo 13, Game Change, Empire Falls, Westworld, and Pollock — his feature film directing debut. He has been a creative advisor for the Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs since 2002.

“My association with Sundance Institute has primarily been with the Directors Lab,” said Ed Harris. “I’ve fortunately been asked to take part in the lab as an advisor for the past 19 years. Those weeks have been at the top of the list of the most rewarding, fulfilling, invaluable experiences of my life. The work and the people I’ve met and learned from and loved have enriched my life considerably. I’m eternally grateful to Robert Redford for his vision and passion. And I humbly accept this honor.”

Gyula Gazdag is a screenwriter, film and theater director, distinguished professor emeritus (UCLA), creative advisor (Binger Film Lab, Amsterdam), and mentor at Script Station (Berlinale Talents). He was named one of the 10 best film teachers in America by Daily Variety (2010). He has been a creative advisor for the Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs since 1994 and artistic director for the Directors Lab since 1997.

“The Sundance Institute Directors and Screenwriters Labs became my second home throughout the years, where everything is about nurturing independent art, and that is second nature to every person who is part of it,” said Gyula Gazdag. “It has provided me with fresh air, inspiration, camaraderie, moral support, and love. I always felt that making an effort to reciprocate all of that results in a fruitful process of free creation. Becoming part of the Sundance Institute family is one of the best things that ever happened to me. This award, bearing Robert Redford’s name, to whom I am eternally grateful for what he created, is a great honor for me. It is extremely precious, since it is coming from the place that I cherish and admire.”

The annual event enables the nonprofit to raise funds to support independent artists year-round through labs, intensives, grants, fellowships, a continuum of support, and public programming. The 2026 Sundance Film Festival Single Film Tickets for in-person and online screenings go on sale January 14 at 10 a.m. MT, and limited quantities of select passes and packages remain on sale. Visit the Sundance Film Festival website for more information: festival.sundance.org.

Sundance Film Festival®

The Sundance Film Festival, a program of the nonprofit Sundance Institute, is the preeminent gathering of original storytellers and audiences seeking new voices and fresh perspectives. Since 1985, hundreds of films launched at the Festival have gone on to gain critical acclaim and reach new audiences worldwide. The Festival has introduced some of the most groundbreaking films and episodic works of the past three decades, including Kiss of the Spider Woman, Prime Minister, Pee-wee as Himself, Dìdi (弟弟), A Real Pain, Daughters, Thelma, Will & Harper, Past Lives, 20 Days in Mariupol, The Eternal Memory, Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie, A Thousand and One, Pretty Baby: Brooke Shields, Rye Lane, Navalny, Fire of Love, Flee, CODA, Passing, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Minari, Clemency, Never Rarely Sometimes Always, Zola, O.J.: Made in America, On the Record, Boys State, The Farewell, Honeyland, One Child Nation, The Souvenir, The Infiltrators, Sorry to Bother You, Top of the Lake, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, Hereditary, Call Me by Your Name, Get Out, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Fruitvale Station, Whiplash, Brooklyn, Precious, The Cove, Little Miss Sunshine, An Inconvenient Truth, Napoleon Dynamite, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Reservoir Dogs, and sex, lies, and videotape. The program consists of fiction and nonfiction features and short films, series and episodic content, innovative storytelling, and performances, as well as conversations and other events. The 2026 Festival will be held January 22–February 1, 2026, in Park City and Salt Lake City, Utah, and online January 29–February 1, 2026, across the country. Be a part of the Festival at festival.sundance.org and follow the Festival on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and Bluesky.

The Festival is a program of the nonprofit Sundance Institute. To date 2026 Festival sponsors include: Presenting Sponsors – Acura, Sundance Now, Chase Sapphire Reserve®, Adobe; Leadership Sponsors – Audible, Casamigos, Hulu on Disney+, Ketel One, Omnicom, United Airlines; Sustaining Sponsors – Canon U.S.A., Inc., Dropbox, World of Hyatt®, IMDbPro, MACRO, Rabbit Hole Bourbon & Rye, White Claw Hard Seltzer; Media Sponsors – Deadline Hollywood, IndieWire, Los Angeles Times, Variety, Vulture. The support of these organizations helps offset the Festival’s costs and sustain the Institute’s year round programs for independent artists. Please visit festival.sundance.org for more. 

Sundance Institute

As a champion and curator of independent stories, the nonprofit Sundance Institute provides and preserves the space for artists across storytelling media to create and thrive. Founded in 1981 by Robert Redford, the Institute’s signature labs, granting, and mentorship programs, dedicated to developing new work, take place throughout the year in the U.S. and internationally. Sundance Collab, a digital community platform, brings a global cohort of working artists together to learn from Sundance Institute advisors and connect with each other in a creative space, developing and sharing works in progress. The Sundance Film Festival and other public programs connect audiences and artists to ignite new ideas, discover original voices, and build a community dedicated to independent storytelling. Through the Sundance Institute artist programs, we have supported such projects as Beasts of the Southern Wild, The Big Sick, Bottle Rocket, Boys Don’t Cry, Boys State, Call Me by Your Name, Clemency, CODA, Dìdi (弟弟), Drunktown’s Finest, The Farewell, Fire of Love, Flee, Fruitvale Station, Half Nelson, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Hereditary, The Infiltrators, The Last Black Man in San Francisco, Little Woods, Love & Basketball, Me and You and Everyone We Know, Mudbound, Nanny, One Child Nation, Pariah, Raising Victor Vargas, RBG, Requiem for a Dream, Reservoir Dogs, Sin Nombre, Sorry to Bother You, Strong Island, Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised), Swiss Army Man, A Thousand and One, Top of the Lake, Won’t You Be My Neighbor?, and Zola. Through year-round artist programs, the Institute also nurtured the early careers of such artists as Paul Thomas Anderson, Gregg Araki, Darren Aronofsky, Lisa Cholodenko, Nia DaCosta, Ryan Coogler, The Daniels, Robert Eggers, Rick Famuyiwa, David Gordon Green, Sterlin Harjo, Marielle Heller, Miranda July, Nikyatu Jusu, James Mangold, John Cameron Mitchell, Kimberly Peirce, Gina Prince-Bythewood, Boots Riley, A.V. Rockwell, Ira Sachs, Walter Salles, Quentin Tarantino, Erica Tremblay, Taika Waititi, Lulu Wang, and Chloé Zhao. Support Sundance Institute in our commitment to uplifting bold artists and powerful storytelling globally by making a donation at sundance.org/donate. Join Sundance Institute on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, X, and Bluesky.

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MEDIA CONTACTS: Tiffany Duersch, tiffany_duersch@sundance.org; Alex Courides, alex_courides@sundance.org; celebratingsundance@ssmandl.com