FRUITS OF LABOR Documentary to Have Broadcast Premiere on PBS

Fruits of Labor, which had its world premiere at the 2021 SXSW Film Festival, follows Ashley, a Mexican-American teenager living in a small agricultural town on the central coast of California. A moving coming-of-age story about a determined young woman and an eye-opening look at the seen and unseen forces that trap many families in poverty, Fruits of Labor is a co-presentation of POV and Latino Public Broadcasting's VOCES.

Produced and directed by Emily Cohen Ibañez, the film premieres on Monday, October 4, 2021 10:00-11:30 p.m. ET on PBS.

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.

Fruits of Labor will be available for streaming for 60 days, concurrent with broadcast on all station-branded PBS platforms, including PBS.org and the PBS Video App, available on iOS, Android, Roku streaming devices, Apple TV, Android TV, Amazon Fire TV, Samsung Smart TV, Chromecast and VIZIO.