The Airing of ”The Green”

Robert Redford chats about the new green programming on the Sundance Channel

With his legendary Sundance Film Festival, Robert Redford brought sex appeal to the business of independent filmmaking. Now, with his Sundance cable channel, he’s aiming to do the same thing for another underappreciated art form — eco-themed television programming.

Tonight, the channel launches “The Green,” a block of environmental programming that will air on Tuesdays at 9 p.m. Each week, it will kick off with a half-hour segment of Big Ideas for a Small Planet — a 13-part series on environmental problem-solvers and innovations. Produced by the team behind Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, the show is slick and fast-paced, applying a thick coat of gloss to environmentalism’s typically rough-hewn image. Following each segment will be the television premiere of a feature-length documentary, on topics ranging from environmental refugees to Andy Goldsworthy’s natural sculptures to Dr. Bronner’s natural-soap empire. Tonight’s documentary — A Crude Awakening: The Oil Crash — explores the frightening implications of peak oil.


I spoke with Redford about his new green enterprise last week at his office in the Sundance Channel’s Manhattan headquarters, just before he jetted off to D.C. to finish filming his latest political thriller.

Grist