This div will be replaced
Screening of
Children of
Invention
(Running Time:
86 Minutes),
followed by
discussion with
director
Tze Chun.
Two young
children living
outside Boston
are left to fend
for themselves
when their
mother gets
embroiled in a
pyramid scheme
and disappears.
One of
Filmmaker
Magazine’s
"25 New Faces of
Independent
Film,"
writer-director
Tze Chun makes
his feature film
debut with one
of the
most-awarded and
best-reviewed
films of the
year.
CHILDREN OF INVENTION
is by turns
humorous and
heartbreaking,
an
"edge-of-your-seat
family drama" (Spout)
that’s both
“powerfully
moving and
rigorously
intelligent." (Boston
Phoenix).
After being
evicted,
hardworking
single mom
Elaine Cheng
(Cindy Cheung,
Lady in the
Water)
tries to
maintain a
normal life for
her children,
Raymond and
Tina. Elaine
juggles a number
of jobs,
including
working for a
questionable
pyramid scheme.
When Elaine
doesn’t return
home one night,
nobody knows the
kids are home
alone, and they
are left to fend
for themselves.
As the days
pass, Raymond, a
budding
inventor,
realizes he
needs to come up
with a plan to
take care of his
little sister.
Referencing both
the mortgage
meltdown and
suburban Ponzi
schemes, “the
film finds
delicate moments
of beauty and
grace as its
child heroes are
forced to make
their way” (Filmmaker
Magazine).
Featuring
“gifted child
actors--off-the-charts
cute,
refreshingly
free of
Hollywood
precociousness”
(LA Weekly),
CHILDREN OF
INVENTION is "as
close to
cinematic purity
as one is likely
to see this
year" (Film
Society of
Lincoln Center),
a timely drama
about the
influence of the
adult world on
children and
resilience in
hard times.
Sponsored by
Asian
American / Asian
Research
Institute - CUNY (AAARI-CUNY)
Hunter College
Asian American
Studies Program
