Remember last month at SilverDocs, when Spike Lee declared that the election of Barack Obama would “change everything…it’s gonna be Before Obama, and After Obama”? He repeated himself virtually word-for-word at a press event last week at the Television Critics Association conference, where he showed up to shill his upcoming Kobe Bryant doc for ESPN. Lee also predicted that the candidate’s election will change Hollywood’s attitude about race, and argued vehemently against a SAG strike. Some excerpts from the event, delivered to us by Kevin Kelly, follow after the jump.
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Two new updates to our Sundance deal chart: Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired has landed US distribution via HBO, who may or may not release the film theatrically; and ESPN has acquired the soccer doc Kicking It. Interesting that it’s day four of the festival and, with the exception of Ballast’s deal for international representation, a) the only films with announced deals are documentaries, and b) no one seems to be talking about how much money they’re putting on the table. Check out our full Sundance 2008 acquisitions chart here.