ROBERT REDFORD - SUNDANCE -- FROM COLD OF UTAH TO HEAT OF ABU DHABI?

SUNDANCE -- FROM COLD OF UTAH TO HEAT OF ABU DHABI?

As part of its effort to become a cultural hub of the Middle East, Abu Dhabi is planning to launch an international film festival in partnership with the Sundance Film Festival, Daily Variety reported today (Tuesday), citing unidentified sources. According to the trade publication, the startup festival is expected to be launched in April. Ironically, news of the festival came on the same day that Sundance founder Robert Redford was telling the Hollywood Reporter that there are now too many festivals. "That's a tricky thing for me to be saying ... but I do think there's such a thing as too much of certain things," Redford said. The profusion of film festivals, he implied, has left the future of Sundance itself in doubt. "When we started there was very little out there; now, there's a lot. My feeling is when the day comes when we're no longer providing the mission we started with -- not creating something new for audiences, not creating opportunities for new artists to have a place to come and develop -- then we shouldn't be here, and we won't."

13/01/2009