Robert Redford recently did something not so unusual for him: He hung out with his pal Paul Newman.

He did it for a documentary to air on Sundance Channel, the cable network he founded but seldom appears on.

As the season finale of "Iconoclasts," this hourlong portrait sticks to the format of the five that came before. It brings together a pair of innovators from different creative fields for one to serve as an admiring guide into the world of the other. Like chef Mario Batali on rocker Michael Stipe. Actress Renee Zellweger on correspondent Christiane Amanpour.

Or Redford on Newman beyond his role as screen legend. It premieres at 8 tonight (with additional play dates).

"And I thought maybe some day he can turn around and present me, and let me talk about Sundance," says Redford, adding an affectionate gibe — "which he probably won't do."

Redford, at 68 still looks terrific — a craggier version of the golden boy in jeans and denim shirt whose reign as superstar began four decades ago. His sights are fixed on 2006, when his Sundance mission will mark a couple of gratifying milestones: a decade for Sundance Channel, and a nice, round quarter-century for the Sundance Institute, the nonprofit organization dedicated to developing artists of independent vision and exhibiting their work.

It was his response to concern in the late 1970s that movies were narrowing their focus: too commercially driven, too beholden to the youth market.

"When I started Sundance it was just to be a lab to give filmmakers a place to come and work, set on a small part of 5,000 acres of land I had bought in Utah to preserve," he says.

Innovative films emerged there, just as he had hoped: "Putting art against nature produces something really positive."

But what then? How would anybody see them? A Sundance film festival seemed the answer, and in 1985 it began in Park City, Utah.

"The first years, no one came," says Redford, flashing a grin at the memory. "I was literally standing in the street hawking it like a circus barker: 'Come on in and see the show!'

"But when films that came out of the festival started to succeed — "Sex, Lies and Videotape" and others — Sundance suddenly became a scene: The merchants came, then they brought the stars in to promote the films. Then the paparazzi came. Then the fashion people. All these tiers started to build out," competing for attention and sometimes clashing with the festival's original purpose.

There has been no change in the mission, Redford emphasizes. Just new ways to pursue it.

In 1996, Sundance Channel (a for-profit venture now partnered with NBC Universal and Showtime Networks) signed on under Redford's creative direction. His concept: "To duplicate for TV the experience I saw working for those 10 days each winter."

From Jan. 20 to 29, Sundance Channel's schedule will include daily reports from the 2006 Sundance Film Festival as well as other related fare.

Redford sees television as playing "a huge role in our future." And the Internet, too? "Absolutely."

Even so, he retains a fundamental faith in the communal viewing experience. Sundance will soon be opening theaters nationwide: a national, year-round outreach by the Sundance Festival.