A powerful feature-length documentary about the perils of over-consumption and throw-away culture.
Ileana’s Smile
Some of our award-winning NatureRx® team edited, produced, and story produced this powerful feature-length documentary, Ileana’s Smile, about the perils of throw-away culture and overconsumption. Directed by Brad Corrigan of the indie rock band Dispatch, Ileana’s Smile is on a film festival tour now and premiered at Denver Film Festival in 2023. The awarded documentary was picked up by Gravitas Ventures and will be widely released in 2025.
Ileana’s Smile Trailer
edited by NatureRx® creative team director and our founder Justin Bogardus
Synopsis: Living inside Central America’s largest landfill young Ileana and her family struggle to survive. Ileana’s Smile explores daily life within a trash dump community, diving into the family life of a single mother with four daughters making a living scavenging for recyclables and food in the burning piles of trash where they’ve made their home. Ileana, the second daughter, is full of life, laughter, mischief, and curiosity. A young musician catapulted into fame, Brad Corrigan stumbles upon Ileana and her family inside the dump. Brad and Ileana strike up an unlikely and abiding friendship that spans many years, Once a bright light within the darkness of the dump, Ileana and her sister Mercedes fall prey to the many abuses that plague the community. Corrigan and a host of others try to rescue Ileana and her sisters from addiction and exploitation.
Her fate led Corrigan to question his humanitarian efforts, the approach taken by organizations working in distressed communities, and even his role in this tragic story. Ultimately, he finds hope in the transformative power of education, and helps bring light to a community shrouded in darkness.