عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Entertainment

Sundance Film Festival Reveals Details about Robert Redford Tributes and Legacy Screenings

The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP)
The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP)
TT
TT

Sundance Film Festival Reveals Details about Robert Redford Tributes and Legacy Screenings

The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP)
The marquee of the Egyptian Theatre appears during the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Jan. 28, 2020. (AP)

Robert Redford’s legacy and mission was always going to be a key component of the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, which will be the last of its kind in Park City, Utah. But in the wake of his death in September at age 89, those ideas took on a new significance.

This January, the institute that Redford founded over 40 years ago, plans to honor his career and impact with and a screening of his first truly independent film, the 1969 sports drama “Downhill Racer,” and a series of legacy screenings of restored Sundance gems from “Little Miss Sunshine” to “House Party,” festival organizers said Tuesday.

“As we were thinking about how best to honor Mr. Redford’s legacy, it’s not only carrying forward this notion of ‘everyone has a story’ but it’s also getting together in a movie theater and watching a film that really embodies that independent spirit,” festival director Eugene Hernandez told The Associated Press. “We’ve had some incredible artists reach out to us, even in the past few weeks since Mr. Redford’s passing, who just want to be part of this year’s festival.”

Archival screenings will include “Saw,” “Mysterious Skin” and “House Party,” as well as the 35th anniversary of Barbara Kopple’s documentary “American Dream,” and 20th anniversaries of “Half Nelson” and “Little Miss Sunshine,” with some of the filmmakers expected to attend as well.

“Over the almost 30 years of Sundance Institute’s collaboration with our partner, the UCLA Film & Television Archive, we’ve not only worked to ensure that the Festival’s legacy endures through film preservation, but we’ve seen that output feed an astonishing resurgence of repertory cinema programming across the country,” said festival programmer John Nein.

“The films we’ve preserved and the newly restored films screening at this year’s festival, including some big anniversaries, are an important way to keep the independent stories from years past alive in our culture today.”

Tickets for the 2026 festival, which runs from Jan. 22 through Feb. 1, go on sale Wednesday at noon Eastern, with online and in person options. Some planning is also already underway for the festival’s new home in Boulder, Colorado, in 2027, but programmers are heads down figuring out the slate of world premieres for January. Those will be revealed in December.

“There’s a lot more to come and a lot more to announce,” Hernandez said. “This is just laying a foundation.”

Redford's death has added a poignancy to everything.

“Seeing and hearing the remembrances took me back to why I felt compelled to go to the festival in the first place,” Hernandez said. “It’s been very grounding and clarifying and for us as a team it’s been very emotional and moving. But it’s also been an opportunity to remind ourselves what Mr. Redford has given to us, to our lives, to our industry, to Utah.”

Most Viewed

 
 
Entertainment

Rapper Lil Jon Confirms Death of His Son, Nathan Smith

Lil Jon performs at Gronk Beach music festival during Super Bowl week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)
Lil Jon performs at Gronk Beach music festival during Super Bowl week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)
TT
TT

Rapper Lil Jon Confirms Death of His Son, Nathan Smith

Lil Jon performs at Gronk Beach music festival during Super Bowl week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)
Lil Jon performs at Gronk Beach music festival during Super Bowl week on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2023, at Talking Stick Resort in Scottsdale, Ariz. (AP)

American rapper Lil Jon said on Friday that his son, Nathan Smith, has died, the record producer confirmed in a joint statement with Smith’s mother.

"I am extremely heartbroken for the tragic loss of our son, Nathan Smith. His mother (Nicole Smith) and I are devastated,” the statement said.

Lil Jon described his son as ‌an “amazingly talented ‌young man” who was ‌a ⁠music producer, artist, ‌engineer, and a New York University graduate.

“Thank you for all of the prayers and support in trying to locate him over the last several days. Thank you to the entire Milton police department involved,” the “Snap ⁠Yo Fingers” rapper added.

A missing persons report was ‌filed on Tuesday for Smith ‍in Milton, Georgia, authorities ‍said in a post on the ‍Milton government website.

Police officials added that a broader search for Smith, also known by the stage name DJ Young Slade, led divers from the Cherokee County Fire Department to recover a body from a pond near ⁠his home on Friday.

"The individual is believed to be Nathan Smith, pending official confirmation by the Fulton County Medical Examiner’s Office,” the post continued.

While no foul play is suspected, the Milton Police Department Criminal Investigations Division will be investigating the events surrounding Smith’s death.

Lil Jon is a Grammy-winning rapper known for a string ‌of chart-topping hits and collaborations, including “Get Low,” “Turn Down for What” and “Shots.”

Entertainment

Keke Palmer Is a Fish Out of Water in Horror-Comedy Series Based on Cult Movie ‘The ’Burbs’

Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall attend Premiere Event Of Peacock's "The 'Burbs" at Universal Studios Backlot on February 05, 2026 in Universal City, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall attend Premiere Event Of Peacock's "The 'Burbs" at Universal Studios Backlot on February 05, 2026 in Universal City, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
TT
TT

Keke Palmer Is a Fish Out of Water in Horror-Comedy Series Based on Cult Movie ‘The ’Burbs’

Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall attend Premiere Event Of Peacock's "The 'Burbs" at Universal Studios Backlot on February 05, 2026 in Universal City, California. (Getty Images/AFP)
Keke Palmer and Jack Whitehall attend Premiere Event Of Peacock's "The 'Burbs" at Universal Studios Backlot on February 05, 2026 in Universal City, California. (Getty Images/AFP)

The suburbs are anything but bland in the new Peacock series “The 'Burbs,” where strange things are going on. Like how jokes mix with the dread.

Inspired by the 1989 Tom Hanks-led movie of the same name, “The 'Burbs” follows a new mom as she navigates a foreign world of white picket fences and manicured lawns while also investigating a possible murder.

“It’s got the comedy, it has the drama, it's got the mystery, it's got the horror, the thrills, the suspense — all of it,” says Celeste Hughey, the creator, writer and executive producer. All eight episodes drop Friday.

Hanks is replaced by Keke Palmer, who plays a newlywed and new mom who moves into her husband's family home in fictional Hinkley Hills, where everyone is in everybody else's business. “Suburbia is a spectator sport,” she is told.

Across the street is an abandoned home, where a local teen disappeared decades ago. Palmer's Samira soon joins forces with a band of off-beat suburbanites to help solve the case, even if her own husband had some sort of role.

“I really wanted to focus on that fish-out-of-water feeling, centering Samira as a Black woman in a white suburb who is a new mom, a new wife — new everything — and trying to figure out where she belongs in the environment,” says Hughey.

The cast includes Jack Whitehall as Samira's husband and the trio of Julia Duffy, Mark Proksch and Paula Pell as her wine-swilling, investigating neighbors who form a sort of found family.

“The movie came out when I was quite young, but I remember seeing it as a kid and it being like this terrifying movie to me,” says Hughey. “But revisiting it as an adult, it's just like the most timely movie.”

The scripts crackle with witty humor, from references to Marie Kondo to “Baby Reindeer,” and jokes often improvised by the actors. Chocolate brownies are described as “the Beyoncé of desserts” and there’s a joke about how white ladies love salad.

“The ’Burbs” also touches on more serious issues over its eight episodes — microaggressions, racial profiling, bullying and childhood trauma — but takes a kooky, off-beat approach.

“I always look at things with a sense of humor,” says Hughey. “I think comedy is a way to be able to examine all these pretty heavy subjects, but in a way that’s accessible, in a way that is clarifying.”

Palmer says she grew up watching Norman Lear shows and admired his ability to both entertain and address social tensions — something she found in “The 'Burbs.”

“When I read this script for the first time, then as we started doing the show, it started to become clear that we had an opportunity to do the same thing,” Palmer says. “We can expose cliches, we can lean into things, which is one of the greatest tools of satire and comedy in itself, and horror as well, because horror can play as a good allegory for the issues in our life.”

Whitehall, who grew up in the London suburb of Putney, says he appreciates that the social commentary never feels that heavy handed between the comedy and horror: “It was great to sort of be able to play in both genres.”

There are multiple nods to the original movie, like picking the last name Fisher after the late actor Carrie Fisher, who appeared in the Hanks-led version, and naming a dog Darla after the name of the pup who starred in the 1989 version. Hanks, himself, appears in a blink-or-you’ll-miss-it image.

There’s a scene where Samira steps onto her neighbor’s grass and leaves suddenly swirl around her feet menacingly, an echo to the original. And there’s a moment when sardines and pretzels are served, a riff off a classic moment in the movie. The creators even asked original actor Wendy Schaal to return to play the town librarian.

“I really wanted to honor the original fans of the movie and make sure that they see that someone who respects the original material and loves the movie had it in their hands,” says Hughey. “I see the fans.”

Hughey said she wrote the series with Palmer's voice in mind, a piece of manifesting that turned out to actually work when she first met Palmer over a year later.

The music ranges from Bill Withers' “Lovely Day” to Steve Lacy's “Dark Red” to Doechii’s “Anxiety” and Big Pun's “I'm Not a Player.”

“Music is very much a part of my creative process and something that I wanted to stand out in the show as well,” says Hughey. “I got to pull in so many of my inspiration songs.”

Entertainment

Kurt Cobain's 'Nevermind' Guitar Up for Sale

Guitars are displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)
Guitars are displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)
TT
TT

Kurt Cobain's 'Nevermind' Guitar Up for Sale

Guitars are displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)
Guitars are displayed during a press preview of The Jim Irsay Collection at Christie's Los Angeles in Beverly Hills, California, on February 5, 2026. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP)

The guitar played by late rock legend Kurt Cobain on the anthemic grunge track "Smells Like Teen Spirit" is going under the hammer next month.

 

The 1966 Fender Mustang is among a treasure trove of instruments and musical memorabilia that also includes the logo-emblazoned drum that announced The Beatles to the United States when the Fab Four played "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1964.

 

The Jim Irsay collection -- put together by the one-time owner of the Indianapolis Colts NFL team -- includes guitars played by musicians who defined the 20th century, including Pink Floyd's Dave Gilmour, The Grateful Dead's Jerry Garcia, as well as Eric Clapton, John Coltrane and Johnny Cash.

 

But at the center of the collection are handwritten lyrics for The Beatles' smash "Hey Jude" as well as guitars played by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison.

 

"I think it's fair to say that this collection of Beatles instruments...is the most important assembled Beatles collection for somebody who wasn't a member of the band," Amelia Walker, the London-based head of private and iconic collections at Christie's, told AFP in Beverly Hills.

 

"There are five Beatles guitars in his collection, as well as Ringo Starr's first Ludwig drum kit (and) John Lennon's piano, on which he composed several songs from Sergeant Pepper."

 

Also included is "the drum skin from Ringo's second Ludwig kit, which is the vision which greeted 73 million Americans who tuned in to watch 'The Ed Sullivan Show' on the ninth of February 1964 when the Beatles broke America."

 

The drum kit is expected to fetch around $2 million, while the guitars could sell for around $1 million at the auction in New York, Christie's estimates.

Perhaps the most expensive item in the collection is Cobain's guitar, which experts say might sell for up to $5 million.

"It's a talismanic guitar for people of my generation... who lived through grunge," said Walker.

"(Smells Like Teen Spirit) was the anthem of that generation. That video is so iconic.

"We're incredibly proud and privileged to have that here."