With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers — one mixed-race and one Korean — Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household. But when her curiosity about her African-American roots grows, she decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity, and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she’s always known. She begins staying away from home, starts skipping school, and risks losing her shot at the college track career she had always dreamed of. But when Avery decides to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of her identity, the results are inspiring. OFF AND RUNNING follows Avery to the brink of adulthood, exploring the strength of family bonds and the lengths people must go to become themselves.
Nicole Opper most recently produced Linton Media’s five-part documentary series LSS for Here! Networks, America’s premium gay television network (aired Fall 2008). She was line producer of Macky Alston’s Emmy-nominated The Killer Within, (premiered Toronto Int’l Film Festival 2006, aired on Discovery Channel 2007) and associate producer of Peter Miller’s Sacco and Vanzetti (premiered Full Frame 2006, First Run Features theatrical release 2007, Winner ‘Best Historical Film’ from the American Historical Association). Her documentary short, Song of Hannah, is distributed by The National Center for Jewish Film and her short films have won multiple ‘Best Short’ awards and screened internationally. She has also directed and produced advocacy videos for Oxfam America, The Grameen Foundation and Positive Planet. Off and Running, Opper’s feature-length debut, is a co-production of ITVS, in association with American Documentary/P.O.V. and The National Black Programming Consortium, with support from The Foundation for Jewish Culture and The Puffin Foundation. Opper holds a BFA in Film Production from New York University and teaches filmmaking to high school students through The School of Cinema and Performing Arts, Magic Box Productions and other media education groups.