San Marcos Celebrates Robert Redford’s Birthday With Sundance Kid And Others

Robert Redford’s Birthday Celebrated With City Proclamation Acknowledging His Family’s Lengthy Legacy In San Marcos, Alongside Screening Of “Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid.”  By, Andrea Torres 

Robert Redford — a champion of independent cinema, an accomplished actor, filmmaker, and the founder of Sundance Film Festival– traces his maternal family roots in San Marcos several generations back.

His great great grandfathers include Zachariah Bugg, the first sheriff of Hays County, and Ed J. L. Green who organized the First National Bank of San Marcos and made our town one of the first in Texas equipped with electricity, via the Electric Light and Power Company.

“I have family history in San Marcos, just below Austin. On my mom’s side of the family, it goes back to the 1850s”, Redford said in the 2012 Houston publication of CultureMap. “We have a family gravesite there. I used to spend my summers as a kid growing up there. I have an affinity for Texas.”

Redford’s respect and appreciation for rivers is exhibited in his films A River Runs Through It and Unforeseen, appropriately reflecting the ethos of San Marcos.

Redford’s describes his goal for the original Sundance Village as a place to offer community, art and nature that would foster artistic pursuits and recreational activity while preserving the naturally beautiful and unique environment.  

Downtown San Marcos will host the inaugural Lost River Film Festival from Nov 2-5, 2017 — in the model of Redford’s successful endeavor with Sundance — presented by the San Marcos Cinema Club, recipients of the 2016 SMarts Award from the San Marcos Arts Commission, who is generously funding the film fest.