Review of the science fair: sincere, funny look at children who change the world

How did you pass high school? I spent myself on maths and excited about the upcoming Halo game. The children featured in the new Science Fair documentary by National Geographic Documentary Films spend their teenage years doing things like trying to cure diseases, developing a stethoscope printed in 3D and redrawing a plane.

Science Fair, which won the first-ever Favorite Festival award at this year's Sundance Film Festival and is now starting its theatrical career, is a cheerful film featuring the lives of students and a teacher. (ISEF).

It's competitive It's hogwash. And you will smile all the time.

The 90-minute film, directed by Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster, features a diverse group of oversized children, some so entertaining that they could run their own television show. Despite enormous differences in their origins, temperaments and research, all share a common goal: to win the $ 75,000 prize that has just been named ISEF Champion.

High school students Ryan, Harsha and Abraham, from Kentucky, are confident in their ability to perform under pressure as they face the circuit of the science fair. Anjali, 14, a sophomore at the same school, is so hilarious about herself that she points out that she may seem arrogant.

Then there's Myllena and Gabriel, a duo from a small town in Brazil trying to cure the Zika virus with little support from their school, and Kashfia, a Muslim girl from South Dakota who attends a school that do achievements almost as much as his sports teams.

The journey of Myllena and Gabriel in particular is heartbreaking, as they travel far from home to present their Zika research on the ISEF scene in Los Angeles. English is not their native language, which makes their struggle even more intense to impress the judges.

Meanwhile, Kashfia is asking his school's football coach to become his academic advisor, allowing him to rank third in a previous ISEF competition. Her school has apparently never announced her monumental feat on the speakers, and it's easy to disappoint her.

Then there's Robbie, a prodigy from West Virginia who can build an algorithm that creates songs in Kanye West's style, but that can not get good grades. He is eccentric, funny and especially suited to anyone who does his best when faced with a last minute deadline.

Serena McCalla, an academic force who lives, breathes and bleeds the ISEF contest, attracts the attention of her students at Jericho High School in New York, hoping that she will succeed in sweeping her away.

The stories are amazing, but the characters are easy to understand. They are inspiring and can make you wish that you have the ability to solve such complex problems when you were young.

Moreover, in a fascinating way, none of the people presented presents the stereotypical and clumsy "nerdiness" that you might expect from a giant academic event like this. They simply perform well with great ideas and these ideas could one day help save lives.

Once everyone has arrived at ISEF, the film shows what a week looks like: a cross between a giant science summer camp and intense competition. For many of these children, it's the very first time before they enter college that they live in a larger community made up of their peers, which is both fun and scary to see with their eyes . Some are ready to mingle, others are unsure of the best way to express themselves and some have very little interest in attending the dance party.

It is certain that it is a task to follow, but the film does a great job of making the stories easy to follow and allow viewers to understand the successes and failures of the students. At the end of the 90-minute cycle of the movie, you are suspended (maybe even a little) waiting to see what children have won and who are returning home with fantastic memories.

The Science Fair opens its doors September 14 in a limited version, and will perform in more rooms on September 28.

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