PARK CITY, UTAH — The 25th edition of the Sundance film festival began this weekend with a nod to ‘nerves, angst, worry, pain, panic, fear,’ from Robert Redford.

‘I’m not talking about the festival, although I thought you might think I was,’ said the festival founder, introducing the opening-night film at the Eccles Centre. ‘I’m talking about what’s going to be exiting the national stage on Tuesday,’ when Barack Obama is sworn in as the U.S. president.

After the audience’s cheers subsided, Redford continued. ‘What’s coming in its place is, of course, change. And I think that change is inevitable. It can bring good times. It can bring bad times. But although we have the worst of times, there’s no reason to think the times coming have to be so filled with dread… And I’m thinking this can be a really inspiring time for artists and that I am looking forward to.’

Sundance’s introduction to this potential was the night’s main event, Adam Elliot’s Max & Mary. The stop-motion animated feature follows the pen-pal relationship between Mary, a lonely girl living in suburban Australia, and Max, an obese, perhaps equally lonely fortysomething struggling through life in New York City.

‘This film we’re going to be showing here tonight is truly representative of some of the things I’ve talked about: Surprise and change,’ Redford said. ‘And I hope that you’re enormously satisfied.’

The film marked the first time an animated or Australian work had opened the festival.

‘I’ve used the word ‘honor’ about a hundred times tonight, so I want to use it once here,’ director Elliot said before the screening began. ‘It is an honor, not just to be the first Australian feature film to open the festival, but to be the first full-length feature animation. So, on behalf of all those communities… I feel honored to represent them.’

Though generally enjoyed, Max was certainly not the most discussed cinematic event of the festival’s first few days. Buyers are flocking around Lynn Shelton’s Humpday, a comedy about two heterosexual men who attempt to make a porn film together, and Lee Daniels’ Push: Based on the novel by Sapphire, which features a surprisingly well-received performance by Mariah Carey.

The festival continues through Jan. 25, with 64 features in competition, four of which are Canadian.