Redford ready for Houston close- up
Robert Redford will appear at the 2012 Cinema Arts Festival next month, where he’ll receive the Levantine Cinema Arts Award and discuss his 50- year career in film.
ErnieManouse will host “A Conversation With Robert Redford,” a 90- minute overview of Redford’s credits as a filmmaker as well as his work with the Sundance Institute, which he founded. The event will take place at 7 p. m. on Nov. 9 at the Sundance Cinemas downtown. It’s an intimate venue, with just 214 seats.
“Robert Redford’s contribution to both the screen and the stage as the founder of Sundance Institute and his own creative work as a director, producer and actor is unparalleled,” said Trish
Rigdon, executive director of Houston Cinema Arts Society. “This deep commitment to the visual and performing arts and to supporting artists is at the heart of the Houston Cinema Arts Festival. Mr. Redford exemplifies the very essence of the spirit of the Cinema Arts Award, which recognizes an artist who transcends artistic boundaries.”
Redford got his start in television before making his film debut in 1962. In the 1960s and 1970s he appeared in films both bankable and acclaimed: “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” “The Sting” and “All the President’s Men,” to name just three. He first stepped behind the camera for 1980’ s “Ordinary People,” which won Academy Awards for best picture and best director.
Redford’s most recent project is the thriller “The Company You Keep,” which he directed and stars in. The film— about a Weather Underground activist on the run — has a deep ensemble cast that
includes Julie Christie, Susan Sarandon, Terrence Howard, Richard Jenkins, Brendan Gleeson, Shia LaBeouf, Sam Elliott, Nick Nolte, Stanley Tucci, Chris Cooper and Anna Kendrick.
A full lineup hasn’t yet
been announced, but the CAF did reveal a few of its screenings, including the American premiere of “Super Everything,” about culture in Malaysia, and the Texas premieres of “A Simple Life,” an award- winning film by director Ann Hui,
and “A Suitcase Full of Chocolate,” a documentary about pianist Sofia
Cosma.
Also screening will be “Beauty Is Embarrassing,” a film about artist
Wayne White, who will appear at CAF. In addition to his work on “Pee Wee’s Playhouse” and music videos for Peter
Gabriel and Smashing Pumpkins, White is known in these parts for creating the giant George
Jones puppet head that filled Rice Gallery in 2009.
The fourth annual Cinema Arts Festival— focused on films by and about artists in the visual, performing and literary arts— will take place Nov. 7- 11.
Single tickets go on sale Oct. 24. More information is available at www.cinemaartssociety.org.