Children of Invention

USA, 2009, 86 Minute Running Time
Genre/Subjects: Coming of Age, Drama, Family Issues, Social Issues, Women's Issues
Programs: Contemporary World Cinema, Films in Competition, New Directors Showcase
Language: English

DIRECTOR: Tze Chun
Producer: Mynette Louie, Trevor Sagan
Editor: Anna Boden
Screenwriter: Tze Chun
Cinematographer: Chris Teague
Principal Cast: Cindy Cheung, Michael Chen, Crystal Chiu
US Distributor: http://www.childrenofinvention.com/

Having grown up surrounded by the skin-care samples and vitamin supplements that fill the homes of people who invest their savings to take part in get-rich-quick enterprises, filmmaker Tze Chun is all too aware of the ways in which immigrants are targeted by the con artists behind direct marketing schemes – and how many of them, initially convinced they’ve found the riches they came America for, find themselves caught beneath its underbelly, much to their own sorrow.

Chun tells the story of Elaine (Cindy Cheung), a single, mild-mannered mother of two – and a gullible attendee of marketing seminars. Desperate, foreclosed on, and down to her last bit of savings, Elaine is especially vulnerable to the suggestion that she can achieve wealth if she just works hard enough at it – and invests in a venture that turns out to be a pyramid scheme. When law enforcement officers show up to arrest her, she keeps mum about her children for fear they will be taken from her. Completely in the dark about what has happened, 11-year-old Raymond and eight-year-old Tina are suddenly left to fend for themselves in suburban Boston. Taking charge to care for his little sister, Raymond, a budding inventor, puts to good use what he’s learned from all those seminars his mother forced him to sit in on.

Chun, 28, has began making shorts and writing full-length scripts on a strict regimen since college. Children of Invention marks his feature debut.

In cooperation with UC Denver Asian American Education Program