Inventing Tomorrow is a 2018 documentary about teenage innovators from around the globe who are creating cutting-edge solutions to confront the world’s environmental threats.
The world is full of bad news, with stories stuffing headlines that seem to paint a terribly glum vision of the future, something that perhaps many feel is an unavoidable certainty. From global warming to air-choking pollution to water shortages to overpopulation to a whole host of catastrophes, it appears we have pushed ourselves into a corner with no way out. Fortunately, even if you don’t see it all that often in mainstream coverage, there are plenty of people working hard to change what seems like a fixed course. Enter director Laura Nix‘s latest evocative documentary Inventing Tomorrow, a showcase for some young people who are leading the charge per say, recognizing global problems on a local level and working to find highly creative solutions.
Often, the role of a documentary is to address something truly disturbing, and as such, make you feel uncomfortable, a purposeful design intended to inspire action. Nix certainly points her camera at some very troubling issues yet we walk away from this film feeling surprisingly upbeat, confident that what’s being passed on is to a youth who are true caretakers. These are teenagers with such passion for change, they will have you rethinking your own behavior.
Jumping right into the eco-mess, we meet a string of high schoolers from around world, including two girls in Indonesia who are trying to stop coastal water degradation from tin-mining ships (who supply materials to drive the electronics market), a boy in Hawaii researching arsenic levels in a pond near his home (displaced by tsunamis), a girl in India tracing the cause of her town’s disappearing lakes, and boys in Mexico who are developing a paint that basically absorbs and neutralizes air pollution. What’s perhaps most impressive is how it so significantly resets the perception that film and television portrays as the modern teen, either entirely consumed by their social media presence or so rife with angst they can’t accomplish anything unless they can get that date with the hot boy/girl in class.
Nix removes herself from the experience, the documentary simply an observation rather than an exposition. There is no narration, no on-screen prompts, no off-camera questions with talking heads holding our hands. Instead, we follow these kids along their own path of exploration as they work their way to the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) held in Los Angeles, one of the largest pre-college science competitions in the world. Here, huge sums of money are awarded to further research and develop the work of winners from a large pool of young contenders. Watching students working booths inside an arena and await resulting might seem a slow way to end a film but I can assure it is nothing of the sort as this is a deeply personal and thrilling journey.
The footage of what these young innovators are working to fix can be just as astonishing. A lake on fire and the massive collection of chemical foam it produces (some in clumps the size of a car) rolling ashore into traffic is something you can’t unsee. Yet what Inventing Tomorrow does well is assure us that while incredible problems like this are real, a new generation of global leaders are taking the baton and looking to run in new directions. Naturally, it’s inspiring, but it’s much more than that. It’s comforting.