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FICM Mourns the Death of the Legendary Robert Redford

The Morelia International Film Festival (FICM) mourns the death of legendary US actor and director Robert Redford, founder of the Sundance Film Institute. The movie legend was honored with the Award for Artistic Excellence at the 17th edition of FICM in 2019.

 

Charles Robert Redford Jr. was born in Santa Monica, California, on August 18, 1936. He studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts with the intention of becoming a stage designer, but later changed his course to become an actor.

Before his big-screen debut in a minor role in Joshua Logan's Tall Story in 1960, Redford had small parts in theater and television, including popular series such as The Untouchables, Perry Mason, and Dr. Kildare. In 1965, he received the New Star of the Year Golden Globe Award for his role in Robert Mulligan's Inside Daisy Clover, starring Natalie Wood.

 

In 1968,  Redford starred in George Roy Hill's Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid alongside Paul Newman. This film brought the actor international fame, allowing him to work on films like The Candidate, The Company You Keep, The Sting, The Great Gatsby, Our Happy Years, Legal Eagles, All the President's Men, Three Days of the Condor, Brubaker, The Electric Horseman, and Out Of Africa to name a few. He finally made his directorial debut with the film Ordinary People (1980), for which he won an Academy Award for Best Director.

During the 1980s, he co-founded the Sundance Film Festival, regarded as one of the most important venues for American independent cinema. Thanks to this festival, films such as Richard Kelly's Donnie Darko (2001), Eduardo Sánchez and Daniel Myrick's The Blair Witch Project (1999), and Quentin Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs (1992), among many others, were promoted.

In 2002, he received an Honorary Oscar in tribute to his artistic legacy. In 2005, he received recognition from the Kennedy Center, and in 2010, he was named Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor and awarded the Golden Lion of Venice.

 

In 2019, he was a Special Guest at the 17th FICM, where he was presented with the Award for Artistic Excellence. During his speech, Alejandro Ramírez, president of the FICM, referred to Robert Redford as "a true icon of cinema who has brought some of the most memorable film characters to life and starred in films that have become classics. His work is remarkable, not only for his wonderful performances, but also for the type of roles he has chosen throughout his career: characters that challenge convention and explore the complexity of human nature."

Robert Redford's legacy will always remain a part of our memory.