Fruits of Labor / Film School Radio interview with Director Emily Cohen Ibañez

FRUITS OF LABOR is the latest documentary from Colombian-American director Emily Cohen Ibañez that follows Ashley Solis, a Mexican-American teenager living in an agricultural town on the central coast of California. A high school senior, Ashley dreams of graduating and going to college, but when ICE raids in her community threaten to separate her family, she is forced to become their primary breadwinner. While most of her friends are thinking about prom and graduation, Ashley finds herself working days in the strawberry fields and the night shift at a processing plant, with little time left for sleep or studies. Tracing the tensions between family bonds and the systems that work to sever them, FRUITS OF LABOR follows Ashley as she tries to hold on to her dreams while coping with obligations to her mother, who is undocumented, and three younger siblings. The family lives in a cramped house with 12 other families, and although Ashley’s mother Beatriz works seven days a week as a domestic, it’s not enough to make ends meet. Yet despite their challenges, both Ashley and Beatriz are committed to changing their lives and the lives of others in their community facing the same struggles. Director, producer, writer and cinematographer Emily Cohen Ibañez joins us for a conversation on the myriad of personal, social and economic pressure that informs most of Ashley’s personal decisions and how the political history and social institutions make Ashley’s path forward fraught with uncertainty, For news and updates go to: fruitsoflaborfilm.com