Robert Redford

Academy Award winner Robert Redford will be the recipient of the 42nd Annual Chaplin Award. The director, actor, producer, environmentalist, and founder of the Sundance Film Festival and Institute will be honored at the Chaplin Gala at Lincoln Center on Monday, April 27, 2015. The evening will spotlight the many iconic roles he has played and the exceptional work he has directed and produced. Redford continues to make his mark on cinema through his career in front of and behind the camera as well as his active role in supporting generations of emerging talent in independent film through his nonprofit Sundance Institute and the world renowned Sundance Film Festival. The event will be attended by a host of notable guests and will include movie and interview clips culminating in the presentation of The Chaplin Award.

"Obviously one of the reasons we were excited to be able to recognize Robert Redford is because of his contribution to the film community," said Lesli Klainberg, Executive Director of the Film Society of Lincoln Center. "It's not just his work as an actor, director, and producer. His impact is hard to measure in many ways. Without the Sundance Institute and Sundance Film Festival, we'd likely have a different industry. And they continue to have a huge impact."

As a producer/filmmaker, Klainberg has personally felt the impact of Sundance, which has touched the careers of many veteran filmmakers working today. Klainberg's most recent Sundance title was as a line producer in Kristi Jacobson and Lori Silverbush's doc A Place at the Table (2012). "As a filmmaker myself, I've had great success at Sundance and it's had a great affect on my career," she said. "As a nonfiction filmmaker, I can say the impact that Sundance has had on the documentary community is immense. The Institute treats documentary on the same level as fiction work, where it, of course, has also had an enormous impact."

Klainberg added: "Obviously he's a star that many of us have grown up watching from his films in the early '60s to his current work [on screen] including J.C. Chandor's All Is Lost, which played at the New York Film Festival last year. I happen to think he's also had some of the greatest co-stars ever, from Natalie Wood to Faye Dunaway, Barbra Streisand, and, of course, his great bromance with Paul Newman."

Though Redford has long been a Hollywood star, Klainberg noted that he too has worked outside the studio system, mirroring the experiences of some of the directors and producers his Sundance Institute and film festival have nurtured. "What's interesting is that he has been an independent filmmaker, producing and getting money for his own movies. He stands for a certain transition in the larger film industry even before Sundance was founded."

Klainberg concluded: "You can't help but think it's been a long time coming for Robert Redford to receive the Chaplin Award, so we're really grateful to have him... The Chaplin Award is very specific in that it [honors] somebody in the context of their career and their impact on the film community and industry."

"The Board is thrilled to have Robert Redford as the next recipient of the Chaplin Award,” said Ann Tenenbaum, the Film Society of Lincoln Center’s Board Chairman. "Not only is he an internationally known and loved actor, director, and producer, but perhaps no other single artist has done more to champion the work of independent filmmakers. This makes him a truly distinguished honoree—the Film Society, the New York Film Festival, and the film world in general are immensely richer because of his contributions.”

* source filmlinc.com