Park City, Utah- There are ovations after screenings at the Sundance Film Festival, and then there are wildly enthusiastic receptions.

I would say the latter was what greeted the documentary “Inside Deep Throat” , www.xxxdeepthroat.com, on Friday night when it premiered here to a packed audience. People are still talking about the debut of this controversial and graphic, yet witty and entertaining film.

“Inside Deep Throat” – which chronicles the making of the most profitable porno film in history – comes under the unlikely banner of Imagine Films. That’s the same company that’s given us “A Beautiful Mind,” “Cocoon,” “Apollo 13” and the rest of Ron Howard’s films.

No, the former Opie and Richie Cunningham is not behind this film. Howard’s partner, Brian Grazer, is the producer of “Inside Deep Throat,” which Imagine will release this winter, with an NC-17 rating, through Universal Pictures.

And yes, at the center of Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey’s very entertaining film is a very X-rated clip from the original “Deep Throat,” in which the now-deceased Linda Lovelace performs her famous sex act upon co-star Harry Reems.

Ironically, Reems – who was paid $250 to appear in the original movie, and then had to stand trial for obscenity – is now a born-again Christian and a respected realtor right here in Park City, Utah. He did not attend the premiere screening.

“Inside Deep Throat” is about more than just the original movie, of course. It also charts the birth of the porn business, crediting “Deep Throat” for launching the billion-dollar industry. What’s kind of funny now is to watch a lot of people who are well into their senior years recall this wild moment from their youths.

One couple in their 80s is particularly amusing. The husband distributed “Deep Throat”; the nagging wife has never forgiven him for it. This duo just about steals the movie and almost makes you forget the really gross subject at the center of this documentary.

Bailey and Barbato have made the kind of movie you would not find out of place late at night on cable TV. It will be interesting to see if the excitement about it at Sundance, though, will carry over to mainstream audiences.