Film critic Roger Ebert gets Sundance award

The Associated Press

Posted: Sep 20, 2012 4:29 PM ET

Last Updated: Sep 20, 2012 4:28 PM ET

Pulitzer Prize-winning movie critic Roger Ebert is shown Jan. 12 at his office at the WTTW-TV studios in Chicago. The Sundance Institute will present him with the Vanguard Leadership Award in recognition of his advocacy of independent film. (Charles Rex Arbogast/Associated Press)

Critic Roger Ebert is receiving an award from Robert Redford's Sundance Institute for his support of independent cinema.

Sundance leaders said Thursday that Ebert will receive their Vanguard Leadership Award at a benefit for the institute June 5 in Los Angeles.

Redford says Ebert was one of the institute's first supporters when Sundance was founded in 1980 to advance independent film.

Sundance Institute executive director Keri Putnam says Ebert has been a champion of challenging films, including many premiering at the Sundance Film Festival.

The 70-year-old Ebert has been reviewing films for the Chicago Sun-Times since 1967 and was the nation's foremost movie critic on television on shows such as Sneak Previews and At the Movies.

Martin Scorsese is to produce a doc about the film critic based on his memoir, Life Itself.

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