Autumn de Forest

This short documentary introduces 10-year-old painter Autumn de Forest, who says she got her start in her "late fives," recalling that her father, Doug, was working on a furniture-making project when she begin to splash paint on a piece of wood. Dad said that "it looked like a Rothko," and Autumn was off to the races. As influences, she cites Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso, Jackson Pollock, Salvador Dalí, and Georgia O'Keeffe. Like the similarly-themed feature-length documentary My Kid Could Paint That (VL-3/08), this profile is likely to produce admiration or skepticism—or both. Autumn enjoys explaining how she creates her large-scale paintings (which she demonstrates for the camera, for other art students, and at a public event), but the way she repeats certain phrases comes across as somewhat robotic, as if she had rehearsed her lines. While working on a "pole painting," for instance—pouring paint on a canvas before smearing it with a metal pole—she mentions the horizon line three times, and insists on its importance, but doesn't explain why (she sums up the technique by saying, "It's easy; it's fun."). Autumn believes that everyone should follow their passion and credits her parents for their support, though it's odd to hear a child use the word "career" in reference to her work. Since this is more of a vanity project than an objective portrait, there's no mention of the business dealings—such as agents or prices—although Forbes reports that Autumn's paintings fetch as much as $25,000 each. Ultimately, this could inspire creativity in younger viewers, making it a strong optional purchase. Aud: E, P. (K. Fennessy)