Robert Redford on Academy Awards diversity scandal: ‘I’m not into the Oscars’

The 2016 Sundance Film Festival began with its annual kickoff press conference this afternoon, and founder Robert Redford was asked about the criticism levied on this year’s Academy Award nominations regarding their lack of diversity.

In a moment where high-profile black performers and directors (including Spike Lee, Will Smith, and Jada Pinkett Smith) are boycotting the Oscars and the Academy’s president is promising “big changes”, Redford’s refusal to take a stance on Hollywood’s diversity issues is particularly noteworthy.

“I can see the headline: ‘I don’t like Oscars, ‘” Redford joked.

Later, concerned at how his remark might be interpreted by the press in attendance, Redford elaborated.

Cheaper technology on one end, though, does mean you can work with more talented people, Chang says, “and be able to pay what the crew deserves, without compromise”. Whatever reward comes of it that’s great.

It has an impeccable record in promoting equality, diversity and inclusivity, but it does so by way of telling great stories, not by pointing fingers, said Redford, who was dressed as per the Sundance norm of casual sweater, blue jeans and cowboy boots. This year’s Oscar nominees include only white actors and actresses.

“Diversity comes out of the word independence”. It’s a word I’ve operated from personally most of my life: the value of the word independent. “If you’re independent-minded, you’re going to do things differently than the common form”. All the movies mentioned above all actually cost far more than advertised by the time they got in theaters, because costs for post-production, sound, production design, professional cinematography, travel, accommodations and union labor have stayed the same or spiraled up.

Redford said he was proud of how Sundance has become a haven for film-makers from all backgrounds, but didn’t take credit for the often timely topics the directors address in their films.

One US drama with an offbeat story line – “Swiss Army Man” – features a hopeless loner stranded in the wilderness who befriends a dead body, and together they embark on a freakish journey home. Because we’re in support of the artist, we say: ‘Well, what are they going to come up with? “They come up with those points of views, we just put a spotlight on them”. “I’m not against mainstream, this is just meant to broaden the film industry… give audiences more choices”.

When asked to speak about the diversity crisis plaguing this year’s oscars in particular, Redford rebutted, “I’m not into Oscars”.

“For me it’s about the work”, he said.

“The idea of running an independent film festival was not meant to be like insurgents coming down from the mountain to attack the mainstream”.

Redford said he created Sundance in the ski town of Park City, Utah, in 1978, to simply “create a path for artists to show their work”, admitting that he initially assumed it wouldn’t thrive.

“Anytime there’s an evolution in equipment, the response is, ‘Movies are so much cheaper to make, ‘” says New York-based independent producer Mary Jane Skalski.

“We wanted to be weird and keep things off beat, it’s more interesting”. “Basically, that’s the principal we operate from”, Redford said of Sundance, where such filmmakers as Ryan Coogler (“Creed”) and Cary Fukunaga (“Beasts of No Nation”) honed their craft and premiered early work.

One documentary attracting a lot of festival buzz is “Newtown”, which explores the aftermath of the 2012 massacre that left 26 people dead, including 20 school children, in CT.