[Mark Rabinowitz] Amid all the hue and cry about diminishing theatrical opportunities for docs (and I have been doing some of the hueing and crying) it seems that filmmakers and distributors large(ish) and small are still clamoring for screen space with three docs opening this week in New York City and two more next week.

The film garnering the most attention in the press is Aaron Rose and Justin Leonard's "Beautiful Losers" (Sidetrack Films), which opens today at the IFC Center. The film's currently rated a 55 on Metacritic and a 60% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Also opening today is Makoto Sasa's "Fire Under the Snow," about Tibetan monk Palden Gyatso, who was tortured in Chinese prisons and upon his release after 33 years protested the Beijing Olympics through hunger strike. The Olympics start today. Nice timing! As this film is part of NYC Docuweek, there's no Metacritic or Rotten Tomatoes ratings on this film and oddly, no New York Times review, but they did run a feature on the film on July 6th.

Rounding out the week's offerings is Wednesday's opening, Steven Sebring's Palm Pictures release "Patti Smith: Dream of Life," which is screening at Film Forum (66, 61%).

In expansion news, Magnolia release "Man on Wire" is on many more screens this week while "The Order of Myths" opens at the Nuart in Los Angeles. I'm sure Paramount Vantage's "American Teen" is opening wider, but I can't tell you where because their website doesn't have that info.