Between high school graduation and college, Nicole Opper, one of America’s rising filmmakers and film educators, volunteered at IPODERAC.

She kept a journal and at the end of it noted that someday she would make a movie about the boys and the place they lived.

Eleven years later, she had an award winning documentary titled Off and Running under her belt and was leaving New York, where she had attended college and began her career. While packing, she found her journal from IPODERAC and decided this story would be her next movie.

She was awarded a Fulbright Fellowship to Puebla, Mexico, where she began shooting her second feature documentary, Búscame: Search for Me about IPODERAC.

Due out in 2015, one of the stories is about 16-year-old Juan Carlos who has spent most of his life either stuck in a tumultuous home or as a runaway on the streets of Mexico City. When he decides to join IPODERAC, his life changes in the most unexpected of ways. Juan Carlos and the boys who find redemption at this home are a study in resilience and a testament to the power of healing. 

Nicole was one of 14 recipients out of 640 entries to recently receive a grant from Chicken & Egg Pictures, the only nonprofit film fund solely devoted to supporting women documentary directors. This grant will help fund post-production editing.