Redford lays into Paris Hilton for coming to Sundance

Robert Redford has laid into Paris Hilton for turning up at his annual Sundance Film Festival.

The veteran actor and director reckons that the presence of her and her entourage detracts from the meaning of the event, and that they are just there to 'party'.

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Sundance champions independent movie-making, but it seems that so far Hilton has attended parties and gone skiing.

During a panel discussion, he let rip on Hilton and her ilk pitching up for all the wrong reasons.

“She didn't have anything to do with the films,” he said. “What movie is she in? She and her hard-partying, swag-grabbing cohorts have made the festival not much fun.

“There are too many people who come to the festival to leverage their own self-interest.”

Redford founded the festival, which originally took place in Salt Lake City, but now happens in Park City, Utah, in 1978.

Since then, it has launched the careers of many now-famous directors, including Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, Steven Soderbergh, Darren Aronofsky and David O. Russell.