Reviews & Quotes | Inventing Tomorrow

NPR | Reviewed by Andrew Lapin
"Watching Inventing Tomorrow, we are reminded of just how vast and layered our current environmental crisis is, and how many different ways our diligence will be needed in the years ahead. But we are also reminded that crisis is a wonderful motivator, and when combined with youthful energy, maybe we can have permission to believe in tomorrow once again." 

Video Librarian ★★★
K. Fennessy
"The underlying subtext here is clear: the future scientists who will be most likely to save the environment need a supportive family, access to college-level resources, and events like ISEF to help bring their ideas to fruition. Recommended."

Booklist | Reviewed by Candace Smith
"This is more than just the story of a science fair. This is the Olympics of science fairs, the Intel international Science and Engineering Fair, which attracts teens from over 75 countries. Four groups are highlighted, each with a project of global importance. Teens from Indonesia are searching for a way to separate tin from sand that makes the process easier on the environment; a boy from Hawaii is looking for arsenic in soil samples. A teenage girl from India is designing an app to make water samples easier to test. A group of boys from Mexico are experimenting with a device that will clean polluted air. Students are filmed in their home countries at work as they collect data and formulate their projects. Later the scene shifts to the fair where they defend their work to judges. Their enthusiasm, as well as their incredible results, will surely inspire teens contemplating their own projects." 

Los Angeles Times | Reviewed by Robert Abele
"Inventing Tomorrow may have gathered its stories of bright, problem-solving teenagers around the world from the fact that they entered the annual Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, but that does not make it your typical contest documentary. The competition is beside the point in Laura Nix’s inspiring film because she’s interested in showcasing a specific type of high school entrant: those who see an environmental threat in their backyard and are driven to fix it with science."

Education Week | Reviewed by Mark Walsh
"The film turned out to be one of the most engaging and entertaining education documentaries I have seen in a while." 

The New York Times | Reviewed by Glenn Kenny
"It’s commendable that someone has tried to make a film about hope, and not pie-in-the-sky hope, either. 'Inventing Tomorrow' takes a personal look at some scientists — not of the accredited adult variety but teenagers, international students working on projects to make things better. They are 'the people who can fix it, and who are going to fix it.'"