Sundance snippets: Robert Redford proud of the diversity at Sundance

Plus: Daniel Radcliffe’s swiss army man opens to mixed reviews and preview of online documentary channel.

Robert Redford, founder and president of the Sundance Institute, participates in the 2016 Sundance Film Festival Opening Day Press Conference at the Egyptian Theatre. Chris Pizzello / Invision / AP

Sundance founder Robert Redford opened this year’s festival with an unapologetic defence of the event’s indie credentials in light of the diversity row over this year’s Oscar nominations. He said: “Diversity comes out of the word independence, that’s the principle word we’ve operated from. It’s an automatic thing if you’re independently minded and if you’re going to do things different from the common form. That’s something we’re proud of, how we show diversity in the festival ... When we have these issues that come up, we don’t bring that up. We just put a spotlight on the artists who bring them up. The artists are making films about what’s on the public mind and the public conversation.”

Daniel Radcliffe’s swiss army man opens to mixed reviews

There were decidedly mixed reactions to Daniel Radcliffe's latest movie, Swiss Army Man, directed by music-video duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert. The former Harry Potter star plays a flatulent corpse that is washed ashore and becomes the sole companion of co-star Paul Dano's shipwrecked character. The movie was one of the most anticipated debuts at the festival, with hundreds of disappointed fans turned away from the sold-out Friday screening. By the end, however, they had a harder job keeping the audience in the theatre, as swaths of viewers walked out. Responses have been mixed, with some dismissing the film as a "90-minute fart joke", while others praised the performances and the film's absurdist humour.

Preview of online documentary channel

SundanceNow Doc Club, AMC Networks' festival-affiliated online documentary streaming channel, gave festival goers a sneak preview of its upcoming original short collection, Five for Justice, during a panel discussion with the films' directors. The films in the collection cover several issues, including gun control and voting rights. Among the filmmakers selected for the collection is Arab-American director/producer Razan Ghalayini, whose previous work includes We Are The Giant and Trials of Spring, as well as Quran by Heart. Her contribution, Limbo, looks at American bail regulations. She has another short, Entrapped, also screening at the festival. Sundance Now curator Thom Powers said: "Especially with the [US] elections coming up in 2016, we wanted to look at creating some things that could start conversations during election season." Sign up for a free trial at www.docclub.com.