My Kid Could Paint That

Amir Bar-Lev's 2007 documentary begins with the paintings of a four-year-old girl. Marla Olmstead's abstracts are shown in galleries, sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars and the press presents her as a prodigy. Some way into filming the family, a television programme questions whether the paintings are really the child's work and everything changes. From that point the documentary interrogates its own position: the director brings the trust he built with the family, what happens when he turns the camera on, and his own doubts into the account. The film gives no answer; no proof is found and the viewer is left undecided. What it is really about is the collision between the value of modern art and a child's privacy. Who it's for: viewers who like films about the art world and documentary ethics. Who it's not for: anyone expecting a clear conclusion; the film does not provide one.