Ahhh, the Sundance Film Festival. One of the places critics and film freaks alike go every year to see movies concerning worldly topics such as rape, torture, politics, genocidal atrocities, and…independent video games?

Sundance 2012 just wrapped a little over a week ago and one of the official selections is a film that covers that very topic. Some of you (probably very few) may remember the announcement of the documentary Indie Game: The Movie a number of months ago when the trailer went live. If not, a quick recap: it’s a documentary from newcomers Lisanne Pajot and James Swirsky that follows the development of three indie games and the careers of their creators. Some of these developers you may recognize, like Jonathan Blow, the guy who made Braid or Edmund McMillen and Tommy Refenes, the guys who crafted Super Meat Boy. The film also covers the 4-year project that is Fez from the developer Phil Fish. The film really seems to make it a point to highlight the required passion and dedication of these people (dare I call them geniuses?) to their art, so it’s kinda hard to turn one’s nose up at it, even if you are a film critic that doesn’t understand video games (ahem…looking at you, Mr. Ebert). A sneak peak of the problems and triumphs of independent game design (as well as completely pointless, albeit pretty goddamn beautiful, shots of waves lapping at a shoreline) can be seen right here in this trailer!

The film is set for release on DVD/digital format after it completes the festival circuit, so we can probably expect it later this year to grace the Pixel Apocalypse “It Came From Netflix” feature. Stay tuned, but in the meantime, take a gander at the film’s official website right here.