Into it: Robert Redford

... Reading?

There are some terrific young writers, particularly women. I just read Mary Gaitskill, who has "Veronica" and "Bad Behaviour" out there. And then there's Zadie Smith whom I really enjoy. I think you have a new voice emerging, it's tougher and it's looking deeper into the underbelly of life. Then there's that young woman who wrote "Smashed," Koren Zailckas. She's in her early 20s but her book is about being a binge drinker at the age of 14. I enjoy reading about what their lives were like and how they came out of it. I'm looking for original stories with great characters and conflict that you can't quite figure out.

I listen to NPR to keep up on what's going on.

Crash and Brokeback Mountain are both wonderful films. I think independent films have gotten so much more accomplished, but I'm sympathetic to any filmmaker who spends a year on a film, puts himself out there to get trashed - and it can be over in a day. I probably listen to radio as much as I watch television, which I do to keep up on the news. But I don't hang out at the computer and I don't have e-mail. I'm probably a bit of a Luddite, but I like to take the time and space to think about what I've just seen. I try to keep live experience foremost in my life rather than electronic. That's how I stay alive.

• The Sundance Film Festival, sponsored by Redford's Sundance Institute, runs until Jan. 29 in Park City, Utah.