"My Kid Could Paint That," a documentary about a child whose abstract art has made over $300,000, is an orphan no more. The first intense bidding war of Sundance ’07 has ended with Sony Pictures Classics taking custody of the doc for just under $2 million dollars.
"We think it is a great movie that can play to a wide audience," said SPC co-president Tom Bernard, whose company is recieving world rights (while A & E gets limited broadcast rights). "The underlying story is a great one, and the way it is told is compelling."
According to The New York Times, "My Kid Could Paint That" director Amir Bar-Lev originally concieved his doc as a portrait of the art world. But after a "60 Minutes" exposé, the project transformed into an exploration of four-year-old Marla Olmstead, her art, and the possibility that it was all a hoax fabricated by Marla’s parents.
"The mother especially is a very sympathetic character and I couldn’t bring myself to believe that she was doing anything exploitive with her child," Bar-Lev said.
