Redford Kid Debuts at Sundance

'The Surrogate,' 'Room 237,' 'For a Good Time, Call...' top New York's list

(NEWSER) - Film critics from New York braved the hobnobby world of Sundance and returned home with a list of their favorites. Many of these films, they note, have already secured distribution and will be coming to a theater near you:

• The Surrogate. A handicapped writer (John Hawkes) employs a sex surrogate (Helen Hunt) to pluck his long-overdue virginity. The Verdict: "This note-perfect, modest little movie ... sends you out on a sex-positive high."

We're bring some American culture to the Brits, actor announces

(NEWSER) - The Sundance Film Festival will soon make its British debut, founder Robert Redford announced yesterday in London, where he also pleaded for continued funding for the arts. "You can't cut the arts because it enriches the culture," the 74-year-old actor said. "You can't, unless it is an ideological argument, classify the arts as a trivial pursuit." He made his remarks as he revealed details of a new mini-Sundance that will be launched in April of next year in London's O2 concert complex. More»

From Kevin Spacey to Kevin Smith, something for everyone

(NEWSER) - The Sundance Film Festival opens Thursday: What films should you anticipate the most? The Daily Beast highlights 14 that are getting the most buzz:

• Margin Call: Set at the beginning of 2008’s financial meltdown, an entry-level analyst discovers a glitch in the system of the investment firm he works at. Kevin Spacey leads a cast that also includes Jeremy Irons and Demi Moore.
• Page One: This documentary goes behind the scenes at the New York Times, including a look at the problems facing the paper with the rise of Internet news.

User-generated documentary will record July 24, 2010

(NEWSER) - Want to be in a YouTube movie directed by Kevin Macdonald and produced by Ridley Scott? Record your ordinary daily life on July 24, upload it to YouTube, and you just might end up in the feature-length documentary "Life in a Day," a compilation of user-submitted footage from around the world. "I hope it will be something that will open people's eyes to the possibilities of user-generated film," Macdonald says. More»

Plus, trouble in paradise for Madonna and Jesus

(NEWSER) - Robert Redford married longtime girlfriend Sibylle Szaggars in Germany this weekend, E! reports. The actor and the painter, who met in the early '90s at a Sundance Film Festival event, married in a small private ceremony conducted in Szaggars’ native German, according to a local newspaper. It is the second marriage for Redford, who has three children from his first marriage. Elsewhere: More»