Inventing Tomorrow
The Intel International Science and Engineering Fair is the leviathan of high school science competitions, with around 1,800 students from scores of nations pursuing $5 million in prize money. Laura Nix’s engaging documentary “Inventing Tomorrow” focuses on six budding scientists who attended the 2017 fair in Los Angeles with projects addressing environmental issues in their homelands.
They are an appealing group of very bright young people determined to make a positive contribution to the world, and only a curmudgeon could fail to root for them. Just qualifying for the fair is an achievement — the teen researchers must survive two rounds of cuts, starting at the local level.
Here’s the kind of work they’re doing: Sahithi Pingali lives in Bangalore, India, in an area full of lakes clotted with weeds, industrial waste and raw sewage. In fact, a lake near her home has burst into flames. Her project has been to monitor the water quality in the lakes and share the information with Bangalore residents trying to remedy the problem.
From Monterrey, Mexico, three boys — Jesus Alfonso Martinez Aranda, Fernando Miguel Sanchez Villalobos and Jose Manuel Elizade Esparaza — have developed a kind of ceramic paint that can help reduce air pollution (a serious issue in Monterrey) and also promote plant growth. The youngsters all come from families of modest means, and worry whether they will be able to afford college.
The film’s youngest subject is Jared Goodwin, 15, an Asian American from Hawaii whose work involves soil contamination caused by a 1960 tsunami in his hometown of Hilo. He wants to know how weather and other factors contribute to the dispersal of toxins, such as the arsenic that chokes a local pond — and we learn about at least part of his motivation: His grandmother is a tsunami survivor.
The second half of “Inventing Tomorrow” recounts the six youngsters’ experiences in Los Angeles as they encounter their fellow competitors, set up their displays and interact with the fair’s judges. While this segment is a necessary follow-up, and offers some amusing personal material, it’s perhaps less compelling than the earlier focus on the teenagers at home.
But on the whole, the film is genuinely inspiring, and if you know any teens with a bent for science, encourage them to see it. Who knows how far they might go?