Filmmakers obviously have figured out that shadowing talented young people, as they navigate the trials and tribulations of decisive, real-world competition, makes for a captivating documentary.
Once again following the template established by 2002’s Spellbound, and subsequently copied by 2018’s Science Fair and others, Cristina Costantini and Darren Foster’s Own the Room — exclusive to Disney+ — follows five ambitious innovators on their journey to the annual Global Student Entrepreneur Awards, held this particular year (2019, pre-COVID) in Macau, China.
The co-founders of iCry2Talk — from left, Andreas Loutzidis, Anastasia Ntracha and
Jason Hadzikostas — map out their presentation for the upboming Global Student
Entrepreneur Awards.
Aside from the prestige involved, and the exposure gained from such a public presentation, the first-place trophy includes $100,000.
The five students profiled in this film — all personable, intelligent, hard-working and great on camera — are as varied as their ideas.
New York University’s Daniela Blanco, the most science-minded, has developed solar-powered electrochemical reactions that create synthetic materials — such as nylon — in a more environmentally friendly manner. The degree to which this would re-write the textile industry cannot be overstated; needless to say, that industry has no desire to change, and this hostility clearly has interfered with Daniela’s efforts to get meaningful attention from the outer world.
A good showing in Macau could change that.
Henry Onyango, a computer coder in Nairobi, has developed an app — Roometo — that helps students throughout Kenya find housing and alternative accommodations. “It’s Airbnb for students,” he explains. He’s by far the most philosophical of this quintet of entrepreneurs, which is quite a contrast to his gregarious girlfriend, Mercy, who teases him about tuning out the entire world when he’s in “the zone.”
The irrepressibly enthusiastic Santosh Pandey, from Kathmandu, has built a business as an “offering happiness surprise consultant” who arranges memorable events — parties, spontaneous encounters, unexpected (and perfect) gifts — that addresses the “family dislocation” that results from parents or adult children living and working abroad.
Greek-born Jason Hadzikostas, also a coder, has developed an app — iCry2Talk — that translates a baby’s cries, in order to help parents distinguish a wail of hunger from one of discomfort, fear or simple vexation. He’s something of an odd duck, often seen strolling the streets of Thessaloniki with a baby doll under one arm (wearing a cap with the iCry2Talk logo).
Hard-working Alondra Toledo, in San Juan, balances her studies with lengthy shifts at her family’s bakery. When Hurricane Maria slammed into Puerto Rico in September 2017, the bakery was one of few buildings left standing … with a working generator. Learning that Alondra and her family — everybody from aunts to grandmothers — helped feed their entire community for weeks is impressive enough, but the catastrophe also ignited an entrepreneurial spark.
“I realized the deaf community was suffering most,” she recalls, “particularly from depression.” One of Alondra’s cousins is deaf, which contributes to her sensitivity, and her awareness that Puerto Rico’s deaf population lacks access to services such as mental health professionals, because so few doctors speak sign language. She therefore designed an app — UnderstHand — so that deaf people can communicate effectively with doctors via private messaging platforms.
Frankly, that’s a stunner. Heck, Alondra herself is a stunner.
She isn’t the only one. The equally impressive Daniela is an immigrant who fled her native Venezuela when that country’s economy tanked. The unspoken irony is impossible to miss: Daniela’s ground-breaking research might never have occurred, had the previous presidential administration been more successful with its jingoistic efforts to completely halt immigration.
Similarly, Alondra prevailed in a horrific, post-crisis environment made worse by the same previous administration’s deplorable failure to assist Puerto Rico. She remained with her family, believing this the proper thing to do, when — in the hurricane’s aftermath — more than 130,000 people left the island permanently.
If Costantini and Foster selected Daniela and Alondra, in part, because of this political subtext, this remains unspoken; neither young woman says anything remotely judgmental. Indeed, none of this quintet does; they’re simply not built that way.
Occasional lighter moments bridge the developing tension, as each of these five takes first place in respective national contests, and then advances to represent their country in Macau. Mercy’s insistence that Henry “do something about his hair” is a gentle smile.
As we move into the third act, the obvious suspense is amplified by an unexpected crisis: Henry gets all the way to Macau, but isn’t allowed to enter the country (because, we’re led to believe, he lacks the funds to “grease” the right palms). Event officials scramble to re-schedule his presentation to the latest possible timeslot, while simultaneously trying to figure out how to help him; on camera, Henry visibly struggles to remain calm.
(Although it must’ve been emotional ghastly in the moment, in hindsight Costantini and Foster probably couldn’t believe their luck. Such last-minute drama!)
Unfortunately, while Own the Room is an absorbing peek into the realm of ambitious young entrepreneurs, the film isn’t as effective as its genre predecessors. The reason is simple: These five individuals are far from equal. Spellbound, Mad Hot Ballroom, Spelling the Dream and all the others carefully selected individuals who were equally captivating, equally talented and equally lovable; we wanted to take all of them home.
While not wanting to belittle their aspirations, two of the contestants here are easily dismissed; their business models are comparatively trivial. This minimizes the suspense, because it seems pretty obvious that matters will boil down to two of the other three.
Even so, we can’t have enough documentaries that shine a spotlight on admirable, altruistic young people in a position to change the world.
It makes one feel better about the future of humanity.
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