The Nintendo Short Cuts competition is finally over and the winners have been announced earlier this morning. Keeping true to style, the judges (David Kwok, senior program director for the Tribeca Film Festival, Lew Harris, editorial director of Movies.com, and…Reggie Fils-Aime?!) have continued to disappoint with their choices:
- First Place: Good vs. Wiivil
- Second Place: Koopa Force
- Third Place: The Nintendo Office
I have nothing against “The Nintendo Office” taking third, but it was rather stale at times. “The Koopa Force” is amazing, but it took four years to make and was released almost a year ago! As for “Good vs Wiivil”?
For shame Reggie, for shame. Yes, this film is well made, but it severely lacks that Nintendo soul that made other entries so great. In fact, I’m hard pressed to find any Nintendo references outside of the Wii Remote and some random kid wearing a Mario shirt from Hot Topic. I’m willing to bet that the creator, Jack Paccione, Jr., knows hardly anything about Nintendo culture and entered the contest just for the $10,000. Besides, I might be wrong, but didn’t he win another Tribeca film contest a little while back?
There is good news though! If Carvel decides to have their own video contest, this film could also take that grand prize, hands down.
You can induldge in the full press release after the break.
GOOD VS. WIIVIL WINS INAUGURAL NINTENDO FILM FESTIVAL
New York Filmmaker Wins $10,000 Prize, Festival Screening at Top of the Rock at the Observation Deck at Rockefeller Center
REDMOND, Wash., June 19, 2007 – A film depicting Wiiâ„¢ at the center of a cosmic battle between benevolent and malevolent forces earned top honors at the inaugural Nintendo Short Cuts Showcase. The open-call competition invited aspiring filmmakers to flex their creative skills by creating a three-to-five-minute Nintendo-themed video or film. New York-based filmmaker Jack Paccione Jr. wowed festival judges with his short featuring a hapless ice cream shop worker whose actions are controlled by dueling Wii Remotesâ„¢.
The 10 finalists can be viewed at www.nintendoshortcuts.com, where visitors continue to vote for their favorites. Each of the nearly 200 Nintendo Short Cuts entries from across the nation was judged on its originality, creativity and uniqueness. Filmmakers were required only to make their entries Nintendo-themed in some way. Clips included everything from mockumentaries and love stories to animated tributes and wild live-action parodies.
“The enthusiastic response to the Short Cuts Showcase proves that users’ love for Nintendo characters and culture extends far beyond their game systems,” says Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aime, who served as a contest judge. “Fostering creativity has always been a huge part of the Nintendo experience. Nintendo fans are some of the most passionate and imaginative people on the planet, so it was no surprise to see such a wealth of inspired submissions.”
Additional judges included David Kwok, senior program director for the Tribeca Film Festival, and Lew Harris, editorial director of Movies.com.
“There was a great pool of finalists,” Kwok says. “It’s amazing to see people be so creative in such a short period of time. It shows in the work that the filmmakers had a fun time making them as well and I’m sure visitors to the Tribeca Drive-In Short Film Series at Top of the Rock will enjoy them as much as I did.”
“I was impressed not just by the quality of the films but also by the different ways the participants chose to represent the games themselves, from film noir to Zelda re-created with humans,” Harris said. “A tremendous amount of originality.”
As the best of the bunch, Good vs. Wiivil will be screened along with the second- and third-place winners as part of the Tribeca Drive-Inâ„¢ Short Film Series at Top of the Rockâ„¢, at the Observation Deck at Rockefeller Center. Director Paccione also will receive a $10,000 cash prize toward his next film, a Wii system, a Nintendo DSâ„¢ Lite and Nintendo games. Paccione also receives a “power lunch” with Tribeca Film Festival co-founder Craig Hatkoff.
Runners-up in the competition included Second Prize winner Marc Duddleson of Monroe, N.C., whose animated Koopa Force short sets the stage for an epic Marioâ„¢-based battle in the form of a movie trailer. Christopher Preksta of Pittsburgh took Third Prize for The Nintendo Office, incorporating a host of classic Nintendo characters into what life might be like at Nintendo HQ. Both Duddleson and Preksta will be awarded a Wii and a Wii game. Seven additional finalists will receive a Nintendo DS Lite and a DS game. They are:
The Blue Light Zone: Eye of the Mii-holder by Will D’Angelo of Las Vegas
The Legend of Zelda: The Missing Link by Eric Esteb of Seattle
The Killing of a No Good Goomba by Cole Evans of Austin, Texas
Pretendo by Joshua Mills of Jamestown, N.C.
All My Systems by Lee Terwilliger of Lackawanna, N.Y.
Nintendo News Network by Adam Stackhouse of Williamsburg, Va.
The Last Wii by Sean Schleifer of Sterling, Va.
The worldwide innovator in the creation of interactive entertainment, Nintendo Co., Ltd., of Kyoto, Japan, manufactures and markets hardware and software for its Wiiâ„¢, Nintendo DSâ„¢, Game Boy® Advance and Nintendo GameCubeâ„¢ systems. Since 1983, Nintendo has sold nearly 2.4 billion video games and more than 409 million hardware units globally, and has created industry icons like Marioâ„¢, Donkey Kong®, Metroid®, Zeldaâ„¢ and Pokémon®. A wholly owned subsidiary, Nintendo of America Inc., based in Redmond, Wash., serves as headquarters for Nintendo’s operations in the Western Hemisphere. For more information about Nintendo, visit the company’s Web site at www.nintendo.com.
