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In this thought-provoking documentary, Director Amir Bar-Lev tracks the overnight celebrity of little Marla Olmstead, a toddler who creates gallery-worthy paintings on the dining room table of her family home. A media sensation by the age of four, critics compare her work with Jackson Pollock. Sales of her paintings reach $300,000. But, sadly, the bubble bursts. When a 2005 profile by 60 Minutes suggests that Marla had help making her paintings, the finger is pointed at her father, an amateur artist and night manager at Frito-Lay. Almost overnight, her family is ensnared in a web of accusation and denial � with the burden of proof placed squarely in their lap: Is Marla a child prodigy or an innocent victim of a hoax?

Discussion after the film will be led by painting professor Michael Grady.

Michael Grady is professor of painting at Appalachian State University. He was born in New York in 1952, and attended the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University in Boston. He moved to New York in 1978 and worked as a counselor and art therapist with inner-city adolescents. He entered the MFA program at Pratt Institute in Brooklyn New York in 1980 and was also appointed Assistant Director of Admissions for the Pratt School of Art and Design. In addition, Grady has worked and taught at San Francisco Art Institute and the Academy of Art University at JFK University. He was chair of ASU�s Art Department from 2009-2011.

After the film and discussion, wander over to one of the wonderful participating restaurants for dinner, drinks, and conversation. Present your film ticket for 10% off your meal! (Discount is good for Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights after the screening.)