Children of Invention | A Film by Tze Chun

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Read our DIWO / DiY Manifesto below.

(For Home Use Only)

FREE SHIPPING on 2 or more Limited-Edition DVDs!

Limited-Edition DVD
To be discontinued. Only available while supplies last!

Two Films by Tze Chun:

CHILDREN OF INVENTION
2009 / Widescreen / 86 minutes / Not Rated(?)

WINDOWBREAKER
2007 / Widescreen / 11 minutes / Not Rated(?)
Exclusive! This film is not available anywhere else!
An official selection of the 2007 Sundance Film Festival, this award-winning film earned Chun a spot on Filmmaker Magazine's annual "25 Faces of Independent Film" list. CHILDREN OF INVENTION is loosely based on WINDOWBREAKER.

(For Home Use Only)

FREE SHIPPING on pre-orders!

Deluxe Collector's Edition DVD
Pre-order for March 2010 release and get FREE SHIPPING!

CHILDREN OF INVENTION
2009 / Widescreen / 86 minutes / Not Rated(?)
+
SPECIAL FEATURES:
* "Windowbreaker" - Short Film by Tze Chun
* Deleted Scenes
* Cast & Crew Commentaries
* Cast Interviews
* Audition Tapes
* Theatrical Trailer
And More!

NOTE: Your credit card will be charged at the time of purchase. Your DVD will be mailed to you when it is released in March 2010.

(Educational / Library Use Only)

To obtain public performance rights and book a screening, contact us.

FREE SHIPPING
on all educational orders!

Educational / Library DVD

CHILDREN OF INVENTION + WINDOWBREAKER

This version of the DVD is for educational use in the classroom or for public and institutional library collections. Restricted to classroom viewings specifically connected to a teaching/learning activity in which all viewers (teacher and students) are involved, or to library loans to individuals for home viewing. Does not include public performance rights.

CHILDREN OF INVENTION has been used in the following classes:
* Living Literature / Documenting Reality - English Dept, Indiana Univ.
* Representations of Global Poverty in Film - Writing Dept, Syracuse

Additionally, Tufts, Northeastern, Texas A&M, and the University of Cincinatti are among the institutions that have acquired the film. It is most suitable for the following academic departments and subjects:

* Film Studies	* Ethnic Studies
* English & Literature	* Women's Studies
* Immigration Studies	* Cultural Studies
* Asian American Studies	* Sociology

(For Non-Profits to Sell to
Individual Home Users Only)

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Fundraiser Pack of 10 DVDs

CHILDREN OF INVENTION + WINDOWBREAKER

Raise money for your non-profit organization! Purchase this 10-pack and sell each DVD for $20. This pack is intended for non-profit community and arts organizations, churches, and student groups to sell to individual home users. (Not to be sold to schools or libraries.)

Original Soundtrack
By T. Griffin

The original soundtrack to Tze Chun's award-winning film CHILDREN OF INVENTION. 16 great electronic / folktronic tracks
by T. Griffin. Click "Download" to download from iTunes.
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To purchase the album Lit By Your Phone by The Quavers, featuring the song "God Made Cars" from our trailer, go to Shiny Little Records.

$9.99/album
$0.99/song

FREE SHIPPING on all orders except single Limited-Edition DVD!
$3 shipping on a single DVD. Currently, we are only taking orders shipped to U.S. addresses. Sales tax is
charged only on orders shipped to NY addresses. Questions? Email store [at] childrenofinvention [dot] com.

* NOTE ON "NOT RATED" - Both CHILDREN OF INVENTION and WINDOWBREAKER are not rated by the MPAA because the MPAA charges filmmakers a high fee for the privilege of having their films rated by the organization. Please be assured, however, that neither film contains foul language, violence, nudity, or sexual situations, and are therefore suitable for viewing by young children--parents who have taken their young children to see the films at festivals have confirmed this to us. We believe that the films would have a PG rating.

DIWO / DIY MANIFESTO:

(Archive:)
Why are we selling DVDs right now? Aren't we still on the film festival circuit?

It may seem a bit unorthodox, but yes, we are indeed selling DVDs while on the festival circuit, and started to do so just two months after our Sundance 2009 premiere. As many of you may know, these are trying times for independent film. Many of the companies that have traditionally distributed specialty, indie, and arthouse movies have gone out of business or stopped acquiring films. As a result, fewer films are being picked up for distribution. And the deals that are being offered by the remaining distributors are smaller than ever before. A typical deal with a distributor now consists of a $0 to $50,000 advance, which is often the only return a filmmaker will see.

But all is not lost. Indie film has never seen so many intelligent and passionate people trying to fix the distribution model. Forward-thinking folks like Ted Hope, Peter Broderick, and Jon Reiss are trying to come up with a new model that will hopefully work for years to come. Websites like indieWIRE and Hammer to Nail have been helping as well to foster a dialogue about the subject. We’re trying to learn from the renaissance in independent music and adopt tactics that may fit for independent film. But we can’t really know how all of this experimentation will turn out until we have some case studies.

In the past few years, we’ve seen award-winning, critically lauded films such as BALLAST and MUTUAL APPRECIATION choose theatrical self-distribution over traditional distribution. We’re trying to go one step further by selling our DVDs at festivals and from our website while still on the festival circuit. Traditionally, doing such a thing would be taboo and relegated to the arena of shoddily made B-movies—certainly not award-winning films that premiere at Sundance. But because of technology, audience behavior has shifted and is continuing to shift dramatically. People are now consuming media in very different ways than they were just a few years ago.

In trying to change with the times, we’re thinking of our festival run as part of our theatrical run. This way, we can capitalize on the press coverage of our film to sell it on DVD—without the middleman. And what’s more, the festival circuit allows us to play in cities no distributor would even think to release our film in (we’re talking about you, Sarasota, Dallas, and Nashville!).

As filmmakers, we need to be responsible and do everything we can to try to recoup the cost of making our films—we owe that to our investors, cast, and crew. If our little experiment works, great. If not, we’ll have some data that’ll help other indie filmmakers in the future, and hopefully get everyone closer to a distribution model that works.

Of course, we’d rather you watch the film in the theaters! So if you’re in a city that will be playing CHILDREN OF INVENTION soon at a local festival, please go see it and bring your friends. If you missed the film while it played in your city, or if you don’t live in one of those places, or if you loved the film and want to see it again, please buy the DVD. Show it to your friends, join our Facebook group, spread the word. Be part of the movement that will put power back in the hands of filmmakers!

Warm wishes,
Tze and Mynette
(April 6, 2009)
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UPDATE, 11/2/09:
After 7 months of selling our DVD on the festival circuit, we're happy to report that we've made a nice chunk of change--exceeding any recent distributor advance we've heard of that has been offered to films like ours. Interestingly, one of the key things we have confirmed is that our DVD sales have definitely not cannibalized our festival ticket sales! We continue to sell out screenings. In fact, we have had much more luck selling our DVD after screenings to audience members who have just seen the film, than to people turned away from our screenings at rush lines. People want to consume their media the way they want to consume their media, and that's that. It's more proof that the traditional release windows are becoming irrelevant.
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UPDATE, 12/28/09:
Ted Hope names us one of the "21 Brave Thinkers of Truly Free Film" for our DIY DVD distribution strategy. Thanks Ted!
(Truly Free Film / The Wrap)
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UPDATE, 1/12/10:
We are doing a "DIWO" theatrical release with Dave Boyle's WHITE ON RICE in New York City, starting March 12. We will also play special one-week engagements in Boston starting February 26 and in Los Angeles starting March 12. Help defray the cost of our distribution efforts via our Kickstarter campaign (below)!
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UPDATE, 1/22/10:
We're one of 5 Sundance films to launch the brand new YouTube Rentals platform during the 2010 Sundance Film Festival.