Redford: a popular 'movement' will fight Trump cuts

Robert Redford refused to be drawn on Donald Trump as the Sundance Film Festival opened Thursday, but vowed a popular "movement" would fight funding cuts made by the incoming president.

The two-time Oscar winner, 80, was asked his opinion on how filmmaking would be affected after the president-elect's inauguration on Friday, but insisted Sundance doesn't do politics.

"Presidents come and go. The pendulum swings back and forth. It always has, it probably always will," Redford told reporters as he kicked off the annual gathering -- a showcase for independent films -- in the ski resort of Park City, Utah.

"So we don't occupy ourselves with politics. We try to stay away from politics per se and we stay focused on what are the stories being told by artists."

Without referring directly to Trump, Redford said he expected cuts to arts and other funding and acknowledged that many people were fearful that "things are getting dark and the darkness is closing in around them."

The president-elect has vowed to slash government spending and his transition team has been working on a plan to cut $10.5 trillion out of the federal budget over 10 years, according to reports.

"Those people who weren't interested or figured 'who cares?' are now going to realize that they are going to be directly affected and they are going to step up," Redford said.

"I hope and I think it's going to be followed by a movement, and a movement is going to go against whatever choice is made to cut things away that affects people. People are going to rebel against that."