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A Mexican-American teenage farmworker dreams of graduating high school, when ICE raids in her community threaten to separate her family and force her to become her family's breadwinner. Fruits of Labor is a lyrical, coming-of-age documentary feature about adolescence, nature and the ancestors.

Synopsis

Ashley Solis is a high school senior who must divide her time between school and supporting her family as a second-generation Mexican American. Located in a California working class town, the harshness of agricultural labor in the strawberry fields shares a stark contrast with the beautiful nature and relationship to her spiritual ancestral upbringing. Director Emily Cohen Ibáñez documents Ashley’s life guided by the spirit world through her hardships and joys in modern America.

July 25, 2014
US: Racial Discrimination Under Scrutiny
September 30, 2004
Inalienable Rights

Credits

Emily Cohen Ibañez

Director/Cinematographer/Producer/Co-Writer
Photo of film director Emily Cohen Ibañez

(Director/Cinematographer/Producer/Co-Writer) is a Latinx filmmaker with Colombian and Syrian Jewish heritage. She earned her doctorate in Anthropology (2011) with a certificate in Culture and Media at New York University. Her film work pairs lyricism with social activism, advocating for labor, environmental, and health justice. Her feature documentary debut, FRUITS OF LABOR will be having its World Premiere at SXSW 2021. Emily was a Fulbright Scholar in 2007-2008 based in Colombia, South America; she screened her film BODIES AT WAR in 22 rural Colombian municipalities affected by landmines in partnership with the Colombian Campaign Against Landmines. Emily regularly makes commissioned short films for venues like The Guardian, The Intercept, and Independent Lens. She also contributes cinematography to independent films including Bronx Obama (2014) directed by Ryan Murdock which won a “Best in Fest” award at AFI Docs. She is recipient of multiple fellowships and grants including JustFilms Ford Foundation, Firelight Doc Lab, 4th World Indigenous Media Lab, and Field of Vision amongst others.

Ashley Solis Pavón

Protagonist/ Co-Writer
Photo of Ashley Solis Pavón and Emily Cohen Ibañez

Ashley Solis Pavón (protagonist/co-writer) is a Chicanx teenage farmworker, factory worker, and home-aid, born and raised on the Central Coast of California. She has spent five years working on food security and justice for her community with the Community Agroecology Network. A member of the River Park Video Collective, she helped make a short community film, CULTIVATING JUSTICE.