Review of Inventing Tomorrow (2019) by Luke M — 07 Sep 2018

This brilliant indie achieves everything you could want from an activist doc. In the face of heart-wrenching environmental challenges, this collection of diverse young student scientists from around the globe face down and outsmart local hazards that threaten the homes they love. The could not be more genuine, leveraging their deep passion and advanced scientific insights to invent programs and technologies that sweep them into the final ranks of the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).

We all know the stakes around climate change and global environmental devastation are at a breaking point, and the current political tide is proactively eroding and resisting the very science and strategies that could minimize the existential threats of the coming century. And in our deep concern, many of us have absorbed dozens of important but high-pressure documentaries over the past decade about global warming and social and environmental justice.

Candidly, I was a bit apprehensive to see another gut punch story about our dwindling chances of sustainability on this planet, but this film is a special shining gem! Director Laura Nix intentionally takes a very different approach, following the passion and challenges of these young adults against the backdrop of a prestigious science fair, to give us a film that is smart and light and engaging and inspiring and joyful and touching and human and hopeful.

Brilliant! If other green films have sucked the life out of you, you owe it to yourself to take this rejuvenating breath of hope.