Ubisoft and Nintendo invade Sundance

by Ross Miller on Jan 20th 2006 2:45PM

The Sundance Film Festival is an annual event, nearly 30 years old (back then called the Utah Film Festival; the event was later renamed to Sundance in 1991). Sundance once represented the pinnacle of independent film; virtual unknowns could submit their works of art and become famous overnight - we can thank the festival for filmmakers such as Kevin Smith (Clerks) and Robert Rodriguez (El Mariachi).

Recently, however, Sundance has become a haven for Hollywood stars to branch out into more independent-style films. While likely an inevitable progression, many argue that Sundance has now become a corporate marketing event, too commercial to retain its original intent. Nintendo and Ubisoft's involvement can only exacerbate such an opinion.

At this year's Sundance Film Festival, which takes place from January 19 - 29, attendees can take a break from movies to test out Nintendo's latest games, as well as toying around with Mario Kart DS online. Ubisoft, for its part, will host an invite-only party for Motorola.

Be sure to check out our sister site Cinematical for all your Sundance needs, if for some reason you do not plan on spending the next week in Utah.

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Tags: DS, GameCube

Reader Comments (2)

wow that's rather shameless...

Nintendo has been showing up at Sundance for years. I signed up to a be a cab driver for two weeks during the January 2003 festival, and I gave the Nintendo PR reps a couple of rides. They attended several parties and gave away free systems to celebs. They also tipped decently.

I went skiing Saturday at Park City and they have a big booth with Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, and Nintendo WiFi connection in big white letters on a light blue background booth set up in the parking lot. Motorola and Nintendo's other co-sponsors are lined up just outside of the parking lot, but Nintendo is impossible to miss.

Sundance is amazing... It is the top film festival in the US, and perhaps a bit too commercialized, but Robert Redford et al have helped it retain its independent film flavor. I am a fan of Hoop Dreams (a basketball documentary) and Pieces of April (Katie Holmes Thanksgiving film), though I think there are too many R films to reflect the tastes of the mass audience. (That's just a business point--R rated films are the least likely to make $100 million or more historically, with a few noticeable exceptions.) I believe Napoleon Dynamite was bought by MTV and/or Fox through the festival as well...

Worth the trip, if you can get tickets! If you can't, the skiing is the best in the country according to the big ski mags and anyone who loves snow.