She Painted While Homeless — Then a Film About Her Won an Oscar

At 15, Inocente Izucar was preparing 30 paintings for her first major art show in San Diego. She had spent much of her childhood moving between homeless shelters, temporary apartments, and friends’ homes. Yet her paintings were filled with bright colors, playful creatures, and strange, wonderful faces.

She even painted her own face, creating colorful designs around her eyes and across her cheeks. It was something she could do wherever she happened to be living, and it became part of how people recognized her.

What she didn’t know was that a documentary crew had taken an interest in her artwork. Within a few years, millions of people would learn her name.

Thirty Moves in Nine Years

Inocente was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a young child. Her family eventually settled in San Diego, but home was rarely a permanent place.

Over nine years, Inocente, her mother, and her three younger brothers moved approximately 30 times. They stayed in shelters, borrowed rooms, and temporary apartments. Sometimes they slept outside.

There were serious problems at home, too, including family violence and a difficult relationship with her mother. Inocente often had little control over where the family would go next or how long they could stay.

Art gave her something she could control. She had enjoyed making pictures since childhood, but at 14 she began experimenting seriously with painting through an after-school program.

The program was run by A Reason to Survive, or ARTS, a San Diego organization that helped young people dealing with difficult circumstances. There, Inocente had access to art supplies, encouragement, and adults who took her talent seriously.

Her paintings were surprisingly cheerful. She liked bold colors and unusual characters, and she often made up entire worlds on her canvases. In a 2012 interview with Teen Vogue, she explained that she preferred painting happy things because she had already experienced enough sadness in her life.

Someone Wanted to Make a Film About Her

In 2009, filmmakers Sean Fine and Andrea Nix Fine were looking for a young person whose story could help people understand childhood homelessness. Their search led them to ARTS, where the organization’s founder, Matt D’Arrigo, encouraged them to meet Inocente.

The filmmakers were immediately interested in her artwork and personality. Rather than focusing only on the difficulties she faced, they decided to follow her efforts to become a professional artist.

They filmed her life over approximately 18 months, including her preparations for an exhibition of 30 original paintings. Inocente worked on the pieces while continuing to deal with uncertainty at home.

The exhibition gave her an opportunity to find out whether people would actually buy her work. They did. According to a later report in Street Roots, the 30 paintings raised approximately $12,000.

For someone who had spent years worrying about where her family would sleep, the possibility of earning money through painting was exciting. She could begin imagining a future in which her artwork helped support her.

The filmmakers eventually completed a 40-minute documentary called Inocente. It premiered on television in August 2012, introducing viewers to the young artist and the colorful world she had created.

From San Diego to the Academy Awards

The documentary began attracting attention at film festivals and eventually earned a nomination for Best Documentary Short Subject at the 2013 Academy Awards. There was another unusual detail behind its success. The filmmakers had used Kickstarter to help finance the project, raising $52,527 from 294 supporters after much of the filming had already been completed.

On February 24, 2013, Inocente attended the Academy Awards alongside Sean and Andrea Fine. She wore a borrowed evening gown and high heels, something she later admitted made her nervous. When the winner for Best Documentary Short Subject was announced, the name was Inocente.

The directors accepted the Oscar, and Inocente joined them onstage. Sean Fine pointed toward her and told the audience that she had been homeless only a year earlier and was now an artist. He then encouraged the people in the theater to support arts education.

The documentary also made film history. It became the first Kickstarter-backed film to win an Academy Award.

For Inocente, the evening brought some memorable encounters with Hollywood celebrities. At the after-party, she accidentally spilled chocolate on her borrowed gown. She later joked that at least it was Oscar chocolate.

Her Artwork Opened New Doors

The documentary’s success brought attention to Inocente’s paintings. People began buying her work, and invitations arrived for exhibitions, interviews, and public appearances.

By February 2013, she told Teen Vogue that she was no longer homeless. She was selling her artwork, paying her bills, and renting an apartment of her own.

She continued working with ARTS, which provided studio space where she could paint. The organization also helped her prepare for exhibitions in other cities, including planned shows in Washington, D.C., and New York.

The film also gave Inocente opportunities to travel. She appeared at screenings, spoke to audiences, and took part in art programs for young people who were facing some of the same difficulties she had experienced.

In September 2013, she visited Seattle for an event connected with the Seattle Art Museum. Along with screening the documentary, organizers arranged an art workshop where young people could meet her and make artwork together.

She enjoyed these opportunities, although watching the documentary herself could be painful. It showed parts of her childhood that she was finally beginning to leave behind.

The Painting Never Stopped

Years after the Oscar, the documentary continued reaching new audiences. Its producers, Shine Global, made it available for schools, universities, libraries, and community screenings, along with educational material about homelessness, immigration, and access to the arts.

Inocente had always hoped the film would encourage people to pay more attention to homeless young people. She also wanted them to see what children could accomplish when someone gave them the opportunity to develop their talents.

Meanwhile, she kept doing what she loved. Traveling and public appearances were exciting, but she still spent much of her time working on new paintings.

In a September 2013 interview, Inocente described the apartment she was paying for through her artwork. The walls were covered with nearly 40 paintings.

About half of them were still unfinished.