Sundance 2005 - Update

We're just past the midpoint of the festival now and there are few - if any - consensus favourites emerging from the pack. Sure, there's Hustle And Flow, the Memphis-set, John Singleton-produced hip-hop drama which is going to come out of this Sundance as the big winner having been bought by Paramount for a ridiculous sum of money. But I've yet to meet anyone who actually likes this hackneyed tale of a pimp who - along with two buddies and his girls - records a crunk anthem in his bedroom.

However, DIY music is the subject of the one film that everyone seems to like. The Devil And Daniel Johnston is a documentary portrait of singer-songwriter Johnston, who started producing homemade cassettes of his primitive rock-folk songs in the early 80s before succumbing to debilitating manic depression. With a cult audience already in place, Johnston managed to work through -though not triumph over - his illness and continues to record and tour today. Director Jeff Feuerzeig's film uses Johnston's childhood Super 8 home movies, audio recordings capturing moments of Johnston's life, archive performance footage and intimate interviews with families, friends and fans to take us on a detailed and emotive journey through Johnston's singular world. Rarely has the close link between obsessive artistic brilliance and madness been better explored on-screen.