Down to a Science

Science lovers, unite! At the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair (Intel ISEF), around 1,700 science-obsessed kids from nearly 80 countries set out to make a difference in the world—and win big. The new documentary Science Fair follows nine of them on their Intel ISEF journey. Some are from schools with the best science programs in the country. Others, like KASHFIA RAHMAN (above, in a scene from the movie) are not as fortunate. “I didn’t have as many resources as a lot of [students who] come to the big science fair,” she told TIME for Kids. When the Brookings, South Dakota, teenager couldn’t find a teacher to serve as her research adviser, her school’s football coach stepped in to be her mentor.

The film was codirected and coproduced by CRISTINA COSTANTINI, who was a science fair kid herself. “Many different kinds of kids from many different backgrounds are interested in science,” she says. “Science is very important, and it can be really cool, too.”