Sundance's new director Eugene Hernandez keeps festival's legacy in mind — and its future
The Sundance Film Festival will launch its 40th edition later this month, welcoming back such alumni as Steven Soderbergh, Dee Rees, Richard Linklater and Kristen Stewart as part of the event. It will be the first full edition for new festival director Eugene Hernandez, charged with stewarding the nation's leading independent film showcase into an uncertain future for the industry at large.
Hernandez, 55, is only the fifth person to hold the job in the festival's storied history. When the Sundance Institute, founded by Robert Redford, took over control of the U.S. Film Festival in 1985, the program included Wim Wenders' "Paris, Texas," Jim Jarmusch's "Stranger Than Paradise" and the Coen brothers' "Blood Simple."
In subsequent years the festival has helped launch a wide array of major filmmakers, including Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino, Ava DuVernay, Ryan Coogler, Chloé Zhao, Damien Chazelle, Paul Thomas Anderson and countless others.
With film production still reeling from the aftermath of last year's strikes, exhibition is continuing to
