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As we just mentioned, independent filmmakers have are already begun sharing the impact that Robert Redford had in shaping their careers.

Redford founded non-profit organisation the Sundance Institute in 1981 – with its website explaining his aim was to “foster independence, risk-taking, and new voices in American film”.

The year it began, the website adds, ten emerging filmmakers were invited to the Sundance resort to work on their projects alongside writers, directors and actors.

In 1985, the Institute took control of the US Film Festival – screening 86 films that year.

In 2014, Redford spoke with the BBC about the festival – saying at the time: “I didn’t want to do it in New York or LA […] I said, let’s put it in Utah, let’s make it hard to get to. Let’s make it weird.”

“We started Sundance as a place to come and develop new artists, with the ambition of creating a community and giving them a platform for their work. I don’t think our mission has changed at all,” he explained.

“Thirty years ago, these people had nowhere to go. Now I’m very proud that actually, the directors of Gravity and American Hustle, Alfonso Cuaron and David O Russell, actually came up through Sundance, and now they work in the mainstream.”