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Saturday, January 20----CRAZY LOVE, a documentary feature competing in the US Documentary Film Competition ,is one of the first to be close to a distribution deal, according to trade website IndieWire. Magnolia Pictures, a division of 2929 Entertainment, is set to pick up distribution rights to the film, which had its world premiere here on Friday night.

The film by Dan Klores, a film publicist-turned-director, documents the long romance between a New York socialite and a shark-like lawyer, who first met in the 1950s, and whose 50 year relationship has been a battleground of recrimination, unfaithfulness and sheer desperate need. The film deftly explores the compromises we strike in our obsession not to left alone. At once entertaining and darkly disturbing, the film was received with a standing ovation at its world premiere screening.

Documentaries have so far been the films of choice in various distribution deals that preceded the Festival. ThinkFilm announced their pick up of two films: WAR DANCE, by Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine, a disturbing portrait of child warriors in the internecine battles in central Africa; and ZOO, directed by Robinson Devor, a mysterious tale of a group of men who had secretive sexual encounters with animals. Both films are screening in the US Documentary Competition here.

In the run-up to the Festival, cable network Arts and Entertainment announced a pick up of the film MY KID COULD PAINT THAT, the entertaining story of a young girl who unexpectedly becomes an art star, and whose simplistic works are sold for major coin in the booming art market. The film, directed by Amir Bar-Lev, also is screening in the US Documentary Competition. And finally, the multi-part serial film FLYING: CONFESSIONS OF A FREE WOMAN, by documentarian Jennifer Fox, has been sold to the Sundance Channel.

Documentaries have a high profile here, not only because of the recent box office successes of such Sundance discoveries as AN INCONVENIENT TRUTH, IRAQ IN FRAGMENTS and MARCH OF THE PENGUINS, but with the pride of place given the documentary film CHICAGO 10, which served as the Festival's Opening Night attraction (only the second time in Sundance history that a non-fiction film had that honor). Documentaries are clearly "hot", and the attendance at Press and Industry Screenings indicates that they are very much on the radar of the distribution companies who have their teams of acquisitions execs in town.

Sandy Mandelberger
Sundance Online Dailies Editor