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"Kate Plays Christine"

U.S. Documentary Competition

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Director Robert Greene brilliantly blurs the lines between reality and narrative, while exploring why viewers want the former to conform to the latter, in the fascinating documentary "Kate Plays Christine." The Kate is the actor Kate Lyn Sheil, who has relocated to Sarasota, Fla., to research her next role: Christine Chubbuck, the TV reporter who in 1974 shot herself in the head on a live newscast. Sheil starts trying to approximate Chubbuck's look and mannerisms, while also checking out the locations Chubbuck visited in planning her suicide, and meeting people who worked with her at the TV station. As Sheil tries to find an explanation for Chubbuck's suicide, Greene digs into the mindset of viewers who consume sensationalist news coverage like popcorn. Greene and Sheil turn that fascination back on the audience in the riveting final scene, forcing us to consider the human toll of tabloid journalism.

— Sean P. Means

"Kate Plays Christine" will screen again at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival: Tuesday, 8:30 a.m., Prospector Square Theatre, Park City; Wednesday, 3:45 p.m., Broadway Centre Cinema 3, Salt Lake City; Thursday, noon, Library Center Theatre, Park City; Friday, 10 p.m., Redstone Cinema 2, Park City.