Ileana's Smile

Ileana’s Smile is the inspiring story of a girl who endures life in a trash dump in Managua, Nicaragua, and the devastating choices she faces. The film follows musician Brad Corrigan and several Nicaraguans as they try to help Ileana on her journey.

Love Light + Melody -the NGO executive producing the film- was founded in 2007 by musician / activist Brad Corrigan after he encountered Ileana and the community of families living and working in "La Chureca,” the largest open air land fill in Central America. 

Ileana’s Smile was distilled from 15 years of film, photography, and journaling - and captures much of the origin story behind Love Light + Melody as Brad and Nicaraguan taxi driver Bismark meet Ileana and her family in the dump, develop close bonds with them and their community, and watch them all endure the brutality and beauty of life in and among the trash heaps. The film is directed and produced by Brad Corrigan of the indie band Dispatch.

In the film, Corrigan narrates his own journey, colliding with Ileana’s, and the tragic story that ensues. “There’s my life before I met Ileana and her family, and then there’s my life after where I cannot shake the courage and resilience that I saw in Ileana, her sisters, and family…” Corrigan started Love Light + Melody to be a force for good—to offer an opportunity for vulnerable children to grow and thrive through education, music, art, and sports. Over the past 18 years, the organization has built a vast community of supporters and partners who are helping to fund their work expanding the reach of Ileana’s School of Hope in Nicaragua.