Film

My Kid Could Paint That

My Kid Could Paint ThatSundance Institute Documentary Film Series Wraps The 2007-2008 Season with a Free Screening Of My Kid Could Paint That On June 4th.

The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Series wraps its 2007-2008 Season this week with a free screening of My Kid Could Paint That on June 4th. An exploration of abstract art, the media’s ability to create and destroy celebrity, and role the documentary filmmaking plays in the lives of its subjects.

A film that premiered to critical and audience acclaim at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, MY KID COULD PAINT THAT chronicles the media frenzy surrounding four-year-old Marla Olmstead and invites its audience to determine whether she is an artistic genius or an exploited child at the center of a fraud. Presented in association with the Park City Film Series, the free screening starts at 7 p.m. at the Jim Santy Auditorium in the Park City Library, 1255 Park Avenue. The film’s director, Amir Bar-Lev will be in attendance and will be available for a Q&A after the screening.

In MY KID COULD PAINT THAT, director Amir Bar-Lev traces four-year-old Marla’s rapid ascent to international fame as a “budding Picasso” and her fall after a “60 Minutes” segment suggested Marla was not the creator of her expensive paintings. Five months before the exposé, Bar-Lev began filming Marla and her family as a part of documentary exploring child celebrity and the meaning of abstract art. As his film’s focus becomes the center of a controversy, Bar-Lev attempts to uncover whether her paintings are the creations of an art prodigy or the work of an overly-ambitious and manipulative father. The end result is a film that takes an introspective look at a family, the media’s ability to create and destroy celebrity, and the role documentary filmmaking plays in the lives of its subjects.

The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Series is a free monthly screening series that presents some of the most compelling nonfiction films to come out of the previous year’s Sundance Film Festival. The Sundance Institute Documentary Film Series is presented in association with the Park City Film Series.

Categories: Film

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