I have a screen saver pulled from a pharmaceutical company’s 2006 conference DVD. All these beautifully animated, abstract, microscopic images float across the screen only to be labeled, “Pancreatic cancer cells,” “Trastuzumab, leaking out of a tumor,” and things like that. My friend Amir Bar-Lev’s documentary, “My Kid Could Paint That,” is like that screen saver.

The film is about Marla Olmstead, a four-year-old girl who is plucked from childhood and catapulted to fame in the art world. Marla’s paintings are cool and her family, happy. And then the labels start popping up. Fraud. Puppet. Con artist. Part Tom Wolfe’s “The Painted Word,” part Bravo’s “Showbiz Moms & Dads,” Amir floats a seemingly ideal family across the screen only to see them infected by the tumor of celebrity. It’s a great story and a huge hit at Sundance. I know this because everyone I meet tells me about the $2 million dollar deal they just signed with Sony (speaking of diseases).

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