Inventing Tomorrow

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Inventing Tomorrow

INVENTING TOMORROW introduces you to six inspiring teenagers from around the globe who are creating cutting-edge solutions to confront some of the world’s most pressing environmental threats. The film follows the lives of innovative teenagers from Hawaii, Indonesia, India and Mexico as they prepare to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF). Considered the Olympics of high school science fairs, ISEF is the largest gathering of high school student-scientists in the world, attracting approximately 1,800 finalists from more than 75 countries, regions and territories. 

The heart of the film is not the competition itself, but the journey these students take as they sample water from contaminated lakes, dig up dirt in public parks, board illegal pirate mining ships, and test their experiments in labs, showing an inspiring determination to build a better future. INVENTING TOMORROW gives the audience a global perspective of the planetary crisis, through the eyes of the generation that is being called upon to avert it. As each finalist prepares to leave home, some for the very first time, we spend time with them in classrooms and at work, even behind the wheel as they learn to drive, and learn more about the obstacles they face just to get to the fair.

INVENTING TOMORROW is a Fishbowl Films Production in association with Motto Pictures, 19340 Productions, Shark Island Institute, and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios.

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“It felt like the cavalry that’s come to save us from ourselves. These extraordinary, driven, eco-compassionate children are cancelling the apocalypse.”

Scott Beggs, The Nerdist

"Inspirational and invigorating, and the young scientists they follow have a passion and enthusiasm that’s a tonic to the soul.”

Kenneth Turan, The LA Times

“There wasn’t a dry eye in the theater…if you’re looking for a healthy dose of optimism, which can often feel in short supply these days, look no further than Laura Nix’s new documentary ‘Inventing Tomorrow.’”

Matthew Delman, Hammer to Nail

Related News/Reviews

Press Release - 06/10/2020

Inventing Tomorrow Receives the Peabody Award for Documentary Film

Los Angeles (June 10, 2020) - Inventing Tomorrow, the acclaimed documentary feature that premiered on the award-winning PBS series POV has been honored with the Peabody Award for Documentary Film. Selected from among 60 nominees that represent the most compelling and empowering stories released in broadcast and digital media during 2019, the film continues to inspire and engage both teachers and students with a national STEM education campaign funded by Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Tangled Bank Studios.

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Peabody Awards
- 05/6/2020

Peabody Awards Announces 60 Nominees

"Inventing Tomorrow" nominated for a Peabody Award 

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Teen Vogue
- 10/29/2019

Teen Vogue's 21 Under 21 2019: The Young People Changing the World

...Sahithi has already earned a top award at an international science fair and was profiled in the documentary Inventing Tomorrow.

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MTV News
- 07/31/2019

THE 18-YEAR-OLD SCIENTIST HELPING BANGALORE'S RESIDENTS SAVE ITS WATER

Sahithi Pingali, star of 'Inventing Tomorrow,' on how she put the future of her city in her neighbors's hands

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Los Angeles Times
- 07/26/2019

What’s on TV This Week, July 28-Aug. 3: ‘The Favourite,’ ‘Jane the Virgin,’ Shark Week and more

Teen STEM students from around the world assemble in Los Angeles seeking scientific solutions to environmental problems in the documentary “Inventing Tomorrow” on a new “POV.” 

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Women and Hollywood
- 03/15/2019

Women-Directed Docs Dominate PBS’ “POV” This Season

Check out all of the women-directed and co-directed docs airing on “POV’s” upcoming season. Inventing Tomorrow, Directed by Laura Nix, will air July 29, 2019.  

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The Canberra Times
- 03/13/2019

Inventing Tomorrow review: Forget Marvel, these kids are the real superheroes

Forget about Marvel. These kids are the real superheroes of the future – the ones who might actually make a difference. It's beyond inspiring to see that high school children, some from real disadvantage, could come up with these ideas.

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Blue Ridge Outdoors
- 09/17/2018

THE 2018 AMERICAN CONSERVATION FILM FESTIVAL: INSPIRING CHANGE, OFFERING SOLUTIONS

The top honor of the festival, the Green Fire Award, is granted to The Serengeti Rules by filmmaker Nicholas Brown. This beautifully shot and poignant film shares the story of a band of young scientists and their time in the most remote and spectacular places on Earth. Driven by their insatiable curiosity about how nature works, they discover a single set of “rules” that govern all life.

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The New York Times
- 08/30/2018

Review: Teenagers Tackle Environmental Enemies in 'Inventing Tomorrow'

"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,” one of them says at the film’s opening.

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Press Release - 04/27/2018

HHMI Tangled Bank Studios’ Latest Film, INVENTING TOMORROW, to Screen at the Hot Docs Film Festival Following its World Premiere at the Sundance Film Festival

CHEVY CHASE, MD (APRIL 27, 2018) — HHMI Tangled Bank Studios, the award winning film production unit of Howard Hughes Medical Institute, in association with Fishbowl Films, Motto Pictures, 19340 Productions, Shark Island Institute and Glassbreaker Films is pleased to announce that INVENTING TOMORROW will screen at Toronto’s Hot Docs Festival, North America’s largest documentary festival.

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Nerdist
- 01/28/2018

INVENTING TOMORROW is a Documentary About Badass Teenagers Who Will Save All of Us (Sundance Review)

The word you’re going to see most associated with this film is “inspiring,” and while it’s definitely that in a jump-out-of-your-seat kind of way, the overwhelming sense it instilled in me was one of relief.

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Variety
- 01/20/2018

Sundance Film Review: 'Inventing Tomorrow'

Kids create environmentally conscious projects to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Laura Nix’s inspiring doc.

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CREDITS

A Fishbowl Films Production in Association with Motto Pictures, 19340 Productions, Shark Island Institute and HHMI Tangled Bank Studios

DIRECTED BY
Laura Nix
PRODUCED BY
Diane Becker, p.g.a., Melanie Miller, p.g.a.,
Laura Nix, p.g.a.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Julie Goldman, Christopher Clements,
David J. Cornfield, Linda A. Cornfield, Sharon Chang
Executive Producers
Ian Darling, David Guy Elisco, Dennis Liu,
Patty Quillin, Andrea Van Beuren
DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Martina Radwan
EDITED BY
Helen Kearns
SCIENCE ADVISORS
Bill and Lorna Glaunsinger