In my 25 years or so of interviewing artists and musicians, I often find that when you ask them about a passion project or a side hustle there’s this mood shift in the interview. The person’s eyes light, there’s a bit more excitement in their tone, and they just cannot stop talking about what you just asked them about. Usually these questions revolve around working in a different medium like a musician trying acting for example.
During Pop Break’s interview with Brad Corrigan, the drummer and co-founder of the iconic indie band Dispatch, we spoke with him about his new documentary film Ileana’s Smile. And like the cavalcade of musicians I’ve interviewed in the past, when I brought up his passion project, the mood of the interview did shift.
It shifted into one of the most honest, heartfelt and emotional conversations I’ve ever had with a musician in my career.
And there’s an excellent reason for that.
Ileana’s Smile is a documentary about a young girl who lived in La Chureca, the largest open-air landfill in Central America (located in Nicaragua), and the joy she brought her community despite the devastating conditions she was living in.
“Ileana’s Smile is a film that we’ve worked on for the last 11 years….It was the first time I’d ever seen that level of poverty where people would choose to live in trash. The reason they’re there is they can’t be evicted from that land because the government doesn’t have any interest in it. Right out their front door they’ve got trash fields filled with recyclables. So it’s a community or a township of folks that sift through the garbage every day and sell off what they find that’s of value just to make a life for themselves and for their kids.
But, as you can imagine, it is so epically toxic. It is so dark and so horrific to imagine anyone choosing to live in an environment like this and especially kids — the vast majority who are barefoot just running around,” Corrigan told Pop Break.
In 2005, Corrigan was playing soccer and doing charity concerts in Nicaragua when his taxi driver (and eventual best friend) Bismark took him to the trash dump. There he met Ileana and her sister Mercedes. Corrigan was so inspired he would take the sojourn to Nicaragua 10 times a year over the next three to four years.
“[Ileana] and her sister Mercedes just became family to us. We were doing an annual concert in the trash dump, and all kinds of stuff with the local organizations to serve the kids. And then Mercedes died, out of nowhere, and we found out that she had HIV Aids. Then a year and a half later, Ileana started showing signs of being sick. We were like ‘What is happening to these kids,” said Corrigan.
He continued, “Ileana passed away in 2011, and in the midst of all of that we learned the hard way that child prostitution was a currency in the trash dump and drug addiction was a daily reality for the kids. [They were] huffing glue. There were families in the trash dump that would actually get the kids hooked on drugs intentionally so they would go work longer shifts to collect recyclables, to come back and then get another hit and then go work.”
Ileana’s Smile is part of the legacy Corrigan and his non-profit group Love Light + Melody are building for this young woman. This film’s release is to raise awareness for this community that’s in need of all our help. It’s also a way to help expand the primary school — Ileana’s School of Hope — that Love Light + Melody have created in this area. According to Corrigan, the school is full and they’re looking to add a high school. The NPG is also looking to expand their scholarship program to help students reach a university level education.
“Ileana’s School of Hope is what remains, and it’s her legacy. […] I just think of Ileana’s life cut short and Mercedes’ life cut short and now countless kids’ lives are extended and access is open for kids to be safe, to flourish and learn and dream and write their own stories.”
The film features the original song “Darker Light,” by Dispatch, a cameo by Rodrigo y Gabriela, and a film score with an all-star lineup of backing musicians including bassist Stefan Lessard (Dave Matthews Band), ukulele phenom Jake Shimabukuro, grammy award winning percussionist Reinaldo DeJesus (Antibalas), violinist Tim Snider (Trevor Hall), and guitarist Dave Preston (Justin Timberlake).
