Hawaii International Film Festival 2009

Multi-level marketing stakes its survival on a huge and highly-tapped population of optimists. CHILDREN OF INVENTION takes us towards the story of one of those people, and her two children. Trapped by the recognizable scenario of single-motherdom, deadbeat dads, and a U.S. security world that exacts particular pain from immigrants, Elaine Cheng (Cindy Cheung) falls victim to her hope of escape in two pyramid schemes. But, we also see her resourcefulness amidst our new time of economic crisis. The mortgage meltdown is the unsaid context of her newly-evicted family's clandestine relocation to a new, yet-to-be-sold vacant condo. When one of her marathon work days extends into a serial overnighter, her son, Raymond (Michael Chen), knows something is wrong. He recruits his little sister, Tina (Crystal Chiu) into a plan to produce and sell his inventions, buy back their house and live happily ever after. Things, of course, do not go as planned. - Bianca Isaki