Boston" Fetes "Children" and "Crude"

A scene from Tze Chun's "Children of Invention." Image courtesy of IFFB.

Director Tze Chun's "Children of Invention' took the grand jury prize at the 2009 Independent Film festival of Boston, while Joe Berlinger's "Crude" won best documentary. Chun's film, about two young children living outside Boston who are left to fend for themselves when their mother gets embroiled in a pyramid scheme and disappears, had its world debut at the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year. "Crude" has had a slate of good news recently. The film's story follows the largest and most controversial legal cases on the planet, a case pitting 30,000 indigenous and colonial rainforest dwellers in Ecuador against the U.S. oil giant Chevron. The pending courtroom drama was featured Sunday night on CBS's "60 Minutes," and the film, directed by Joe Berlinger, announced its acquisition today.

Also taking home prizes, "Beeswax" by Andrew Bujalski (Special Jury Prize Winner), Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Still Walking" (Audience winner) and Patrik Eklund's "Instead of Abracadabra" (shorts Grand Prize winner).

The entire list of IFFB winners:

Narrative Feature:
Grand Jury Prize Winner: "Children of Invention" directed by Tze Chun
Special Jury Prize Winner: "Beeswax" directed by Andrew Bujalski
Audience Award Winner: "Still Walking" directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda

Documentary Feature:
Grand Jury Prize Winner: "Crude" directed by Joe Berlinger
Special Jury Prize Winner: "Unmistaken Child" directed by Nati Baratz
Audience Award Winner: "Shooting Beauty" directed by George Kachadorian
Honorable Mention: "The Way We Get By" directed by Aron Gaudet

Short Film:
Grand Jury Prize Winner: "Instead of Abracadabra" directed by Patrik Eklund
Special Jury Prize Winner: "I Am So Proud of You" directed by Don Hertzfeldt
Audience Award Winner: "Short Term 12" directed by Destin Daniel Cretton

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