diff --git a/popcorn.js b/popcorn.js
index 94523877..ba21e8a8 100644
--- a/popcorn.js
+++ b/popcorn.js
@@ -1610,6 +1610,61 @@
 
   Popcorn.plugin.effect = Popcorn.effect = Popcorn.compose;
 
+  var rnaiveExpr = /^(?:\.|#|\[)/;
+
+  //  Basic DOM utilities and helpers API. See #1037
+  Popcorn.dom = {
+
+    //  Popcorn.dom.find( selector, context )
+    //
+    //  Returns the first element that matches the specified selector
+    //  Optionally provide a context element, defaults to `document`
+    //
+    //  eg.
+    //  Popcorn.dom.find("video") returns the first video element
+    //  Popcorn.dom.find("#foo") returns the first element with `id="foo"`
+    //  Popcorn.dom.find("foo") returns the first element with `id="foo"`
+    //     Note: Popcorn.dom.find("foo") is the only allowed deviation
+    //           from valid querySelector selector syntax
+    //
+    //  Popcorn.dom.find(".baz") returns the first element with `class="baz"`
+    //  Popcorn.dom.find("[preload]") returns the first element with `preload="..."`
+    //  ...
+    //  See https://developer.mozilla.org/En/DOM/Document.querySelector
+    //
+    //
+    find: function( selector, context ) {
+      var node = null;
+
+      //  Trim leading/trailing whitespace to avoid false negatives
+      selector = selector.trim();
+
+      //  Default context is the `document`
+      context = context || document;
+
+      if ( selector ) {
+        //  If the selector does not begin with "#", "." or "[",
+        //  it could be either a nodeName or ID w/o "#"
+        if ( !rnaiveExpr.test( selector ) ) {
+
+          //  Try finding an element that matches by ID first
+          node = document.getElementById( selector );
+
+          //  If a match was found by ID, return the element
+          if ( node !== null ) {
+            return node;
+          }
+        }
+        //  Assume no elements have been found yet
+        //  Catch any invalid selector syntax errors and bury them.
+        try {
+          node = context.querySelector( selector );
+        } catch ( e ) {}
+      }
+      return node;
+    }
+  };
+
   //  Cache references to reused RegExps
   var rparams = /\?/,
   //  XHR Setup object
diff --git a/test/index.html b/test/index.html
index ee8697ad..9de67364 100644
--- a/test/index.html
+++ b/test/index.html
@@ -27,10 +27,13 @@
   <h2 id="qunit-userAgent"></h2>
   <ol id="qunit-tests"></ol>
   <div id="qunit-fixture">
-
+    <div class="contextual" data-contextual="true">This should break the tests</div>
+    <div id="popcorn-dom-find-context">
+      <div id="inside-context" class="contextual" data-contextual="true">This element will be found when its parent is used as a context</div>
+    </div>
   </div>
 
-  <video id="video"
+  <video id="video" class="dom-tests" data-custom="foo"
     style="display:;width:300px"
     controls
     preload="auto">
@@ -51,6 +54,7 @@
 
   </video>
 
+
   <audio id="audio" data-timeline-sources="data/parserData.json" controls>
     <source src="italia.mp4" type='audio/mp4; codecs="mp4a.40.2"'>
     <source src="italia.ogg" type='audio/ogg; codecs="vorbis"'>