American Documentary

Overview

New York, N.Y. -- March 31, 2021 -- POV, the acclaimed PBS documentary series, announced today that it had acquired the U.S. broadcast rights to Fruits of Labor directed by Emily Cohen Ibañez which had its world premiere at the 2021 SXSW film festival. The film will have its international festival premiere at Hot Docs, April 29 - May 9, 2021.

Fruits of Labor follows Ashley Pavon, a Mexican-American teenager living in an agricultural town on the central coast of California. Ashley dreams of graduating high school and going to college, but when ICE raids in her community threaten to separate her family, Ashley is forced to become the breadwinner of her family, working days in the strawberry fields and the night shift at a food processing company.

Tracing the tensions between family bonds and the systems that work to sever them, Fruits of Labor explores how Ashley navigates her own dreams and aspirations with her obligations to her mother and siblings. This coming-of-age story is a meditation on growing up, the seen and unseen forces that trap families in poverty, and coming into one’s own as a working woman in the wealthiest nation in the world. Filming the struggle of the laborers who feed America to feed themselves, Fruits of Labor offers a new narrative about women workers that highlights how the global food system intersects with gender and family life.

"For me, the project means valuing labor, nature, and women workers across the globe who too often go unnoticed. It is about planting a seed for reflection and revolution. I couldn't imagine a better broadcast home for Fruits of Labor than POV, a series that serves national audiences and that is freely available on public television. We share a mission to bring artistic cinema with a unique voice that aims to change the world," said Fruits of Labor director, writer, producer & cinematographer Emily Cohen Ibañez.

“We are so excited to premiere Fruits of Labor in our upcoming season. POV has a long history of championing emerging voices. We are proud to support Emily and bring her resonant, debut film to audiences across America, in partnership with PBS and LPB,” said Justine Nagan, executive director of American Documentary | executive producer of POV.

Fruits of Labor is a co-presentation of POV and VOCES. A co-production of Reversa Films, American Documentary | POV, and Latino Public Broadcasting, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). The Fruits of Labor deal was negotiated by Justine Nagan and Chris White on behalf of POV and Emily Cohen Ibañez's company Reversa Films for the film.

About POV

Produced by American Documentary, POV is the longest-running independent documentary showcase on American television. Since 1988, POV has presented films on PBS that capture the full spectrum of the human experience, with a long commitment to centering women and people of color in front of, and behind, the camera. It's on POV where American television audiences were introduced to groundbreaking works like Tongues Untied, The Act of Killing and American Promise and innovative filmmakers including Jonathan Demme, Nanfu Wang, and Laura Poitras. In 2018, POV Shorts launched as one of the first PBS series dedicated to bold and timely short-form documentaries.

Over a generation, POV has championed accessibility and innovation in nonfiction storytelling. POV Engage works with educators, community organizations and PBS stations to present hundreds of free screenings every year, inspiring dialogue around today's most pressing social issues. The series' interactive arm, POV Spark, creates and advances experiential forms of storytelling and programming, redefining U.S. public media to be more inclusive of emerging technologies and interactive makers.

POV films and projects have won 42 Emmy Awards, 26 George Foster Peabody Awards, 15 Alfred I. duPont-Columbia University Awards, three Academy Awards and the first-ever George Polk Documentary Film Award. Learn more at pbs.org/pov and follow @povdocs on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.

About American Documentary

American Documentary, Inc. (AmDoc) is a multimedia company dedicated to creating, identifying and presenting contemporary stories that express opinions and perspectives rarely featured in mainstream media outlets. AmDoc is a catalyst for public culture, developing collaborative strategic engagement activities around socially relevant content on television, online and in community settings. These activities are designed to trigger action, from dialogue and feedback to educational opportunities and community participation.

Major funding for POV is provided by PBS, The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, The Wyncote Foundation, Reva & David Logan Foundation, Open Society Foundations and the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding comes from Acton Family Giving, Nancy Blachman and David desJardins, Bertha Foundation, The Hollywood Foreign Press Association's Charitable Trust, Park Foundation, Sage Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, Chris and Nancy Plaut, Ann Tenenbaum and Thomas H. Lee and public television viewers. POV is presented by a consortium of public television stations, including KQED San Francisco, WGBH Boston and THIRTEEN in association with WNET.ORG.