Sundance founder Robert Redford and the festival director John Cooper held a press conference in the Egyptian to talk about the themes of renewal for Sundance this year (everything is marketed with “Re” in front it: re-cycle, re-imagine, re-work…you get the idea). Redford summed up their experience of renewal by citing the T.S. Eliot poem “Little Gidding” and paraphrased:

“We shall not cease from exploration
And the end of all our exploring
Will be to arrive where we started
And know the place for the first time.”

The most moving part of the conference, and the day, however, was when Redford came down to say hello to Roger Ebert, who was in the crowd of critics with his wonderful wife, Chaz. Roger had massive surgery to deal with cancer in his jaw and his appearance is much changed. He remains the same in the written word, however, and he likely wants no tears or sympathy. His courage at appearing back in public is evidence of that. He’s still using his prose and criticism to elevate great films and tear into bad ones with as much vigor as always.

Mali Elfman from ScreenCrave captured this amazing moment:

Just prior to the Redford conference was the New Frontier conference. It featured various artists such as Ragnar Kjartansson and Pipilotti Rist. Also in attendance was Joseph Gordon-Levitt. To be honest it was a lot of the same stuff one hears at all of these panels, about using the new medium in exciting ways (except DreamWeaver, everyone seemed to espouse serious hate for DreamWeaver) and the possibilities of film. Levitt and crew were engaging, however, and he wore a tie, which endeared him to me even more.

Levitt at the New Frontier Room

Tonight’s films are Howl and Restrepo, the documentary co-directed by Sebastian Junger, following soldiers in Afghanistan. There’s been very good buzz around Restrepo.