“Fruits of Labor” has found a home after its world premiere at the SXSW Film Festival. A press release announced that the PBS documentary series “POV” has registered the rights to broadcast the Emily Cohen-Ibanez documentary.
“Fruits of Labor,” slated to premiere at the International Festival in Hot Docs later this month, tells the story of Ashley Solis, a Mexican-American teen living in a farming town in California. She “dreams of graduating from high school and going to college, but when the ICE raids in her community threaten to separate her family, Ashley is forced to become the breadwinner for her family, working days in strawberry fields and night shift in a food processing company,” document summary details.
Fruits of Labor traces the tensions between family ties and the systems that separate them, and explores how Ashley deals with her dreams and aspirations with her obligations to her mother and siblings. Described as “a reflection on growth, the visible and invisible forces that trap families in poverty, and the joining of the individual as a working woman in the richest country in the world,” the document provides “a new account of women workers that sheds light on how the global food system intersects with gender and family life.”
When we asked Ibanez What drew her to this story, she said, “I am a Latin filmmaker long devoted to the struggle of farm workers in the city where Ashley, the hero and co-writer lives. After 2016, I noticed a slight rise in ICE raids in the Ashley community and saw a marked increase in babies born In the United States who work in agricultural fields and factories, to replace their undocumented parents, she stressed that the stories of mixed-status families who live under the daily terror of ICE are largely ignored in the media. When the news covers current immigration issues, it tends to focus on the geographic location of the border between the United States and Mexico and the detention of asylum seekers. Often times, we learn how borders exist in physical distant places, but even so, we are subjected to intimidation by ICE and the constant threat of family separation. ”
The director told us that she hopes those who watch the film “think about what it means to live a decent life, for working families in this country and across the country.”
In a statement, Ibanez described the project as a “seed for reflection and revolution” and said that she “could not imagine a better home for broadcasting” fruit of work “than” POV, “a series serving national audiences that is provided free of charge. Available on public television.” “We share the mission of bringing artistic cinema with a unique voice that aims to change the world,” she added.
Ibanez received her Ph.D. in Anthropology with a degree in Culture and Media from New York University. Her films have been screened at the Bogotá International Film Festival, the Sainte-fi Independent Film Festival, the Roxy Film Theater in San Francisco, the Society of Visual Anthropology, and universities internationally.
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