‘Science Fair’ Takes On Sense Of Urgency In Donald Trump’s America, Producer Says — TCA

“We have a President who likes to joke that climate change is not real because it’s snowing out” a TV critic attending TCA asked panelists for Nat Geo’s documentary Science Fair, wondering if the documentary has taken on an “urgency.”

“We are very aware,” co-director/producer Darren Foster acknowledged. White describing the Sundance and SXSW award winning doc as a  “celebration of science” and the students as best hope for a “bright” future, he said science definitely is “under attack.”

Winner of the audience award at Sundance and SXSW, NatGeo Documentary Film’s Science Fair followed nine high-school students from around the globe who were among the 1,700 students from 78 countries navigating their way to competing at the International Science and Engineering Fair.

“No one has been more surprised than we are by what this film has become,” co-director/producer Christina Constantini told TV critics.

Noting one of the students in the movie from South Dakota got her school’s head football coach to support her science project when no one else would, Constantini said “we wanted to show that America does not have its priorities in the right place. Not just Brookings, South Dakota.”

“It’s been a dream for me to see it become so big,” she said, speaking as a former competitor, crediting NatGeo with getting the film into 5K school in the United States.

Science Fair will make its NatGeo debut, commercial free, on May 9 which falls during National Teacher Appreciation Week.