The Harvest/La Cosecha
The Story of the Children Who Feed America.
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Every year there are more than 400,000 American children who are torn away from their friends, schools and homes to pick the food we all eat. Zulema, Perla and Victor labor as migrant farm workers, sacrificing their own childhoods to help their families survive. THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA profiles these three as they journey from the scorching heat of Texas’ onion fields to the winter snows of the Michigan apple orchards and back south to the humidity of Florida’s tomato fields to follow the harvest.
From the Producers of the Academy-Award® Nominated film, WAR/DANCE and Executive Producer Eva Longoria, this award-winning documentary provides an intimate glimpse into the lives of these children who struggle to dream while working 12 – 14 hours a day, 7 days a week to feed America.
Zulema Lopez, 12, thinks of nothing but working in the fields, and one of her earliest childhood memories is of her mother teaching her how to pick and clean strawberries. Having attended eight schools in the last eight years, she struggles to keep up and is afraid she may not make it to high school. When asked what her dreams are, she replies that she doesn’t have time for them.
Perla Sanchez, 14, travels with her family to pick crops across the United States. She watches as her classmates forge special bonds that she will never share with them as they advance from one grade to the next and she is left behind. And just when it seems that her father has found a job that will allow them to stay in one place and have some stability, a decline in his health sends them back on the road. She dreams of becoming a lawyer so that she can help other migrant workers who struggle to make ends meet
Victor Huapilla is a 16 year-old living in Florida. His family migrated to the US when he was young looking for a better life and is on the path to full citizenship. To help support his family, Victor has had to balance his time between harvesting and going to school and his education suffers. While Victor is often in the fields, he’s glad his younger sisters are still spared the ordeal of picking up to 1500 pounds of tomatoes a day. But the expenses of legally bringing his two older sisters to America bankrupts the family and they can’t afford to migrate for work.
Directed by award-winning photographer and filmmaker U. Roberto Romano, THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA tells the stories of three adolescents who travel with their families across thousands of miles to pick crops in southern Texas, northern Michigan and northern Florida during the harvest season. Along the way, they face back breaking labor in 100-degree heat, physical hazards from pesticides, the emotional burden of helping their families through economic crises when work opportunities dry up, separation from their families and peer groups and dwindling hope for their educational and economic advancement.
Scenes from THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA have been presented to the US Department of Labor and members of Congress, including Rep. Roybal-Allard, who hopes that the film will raise public awareness of the issues surrounding young farm workers.
THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA is a production of Shine Global, Inc. in association with Globalvision, Inc., Romano Film and Photography, Inc., UnbeliEVAble Productions and EPIX. Albie Hecht and Susan MacLaury: executive producers for Shine Global, Inc. Eva Longoria: executive producer for UnBeliEVAble Productions, Rory O’Connor: executive producer for Globalvision, Inc. and producer. Alonzo Cantu and Raul Padilla, Executive Producers
A CINEMA LIBRE STUDIO RELEASE OF A SHINE GLOBAL PRESENTATION IN ASSOCIATION WITH GLOBALVISION INC. ROMANO FILM & PHOTOGRAPHY INC AND UNBELIEVABLE PRODUCTIONS INC A U. ROBERTO ROMANO FILM “THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA” ORIGINAL MUSIC WENDY BLACKSTONE EDITOR NICHOLAS CLARK DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY U. ROBERTO ROMANO ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR JULIA PEREZ ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS INGRID DURAN DAVID DAMIAN FIGUEROA CATHERINE PINO ASSOCIATE PRODUCERS BRENDAN HERMES ANDREW HERWITZ REBECCA KATZ CO-PRODUCER CHARLIE SADOFF EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ALONZO CANTU RORY O’CONNOR RAUL PADILLA EXECUTIVE PRODUCER EVA LONGORIA EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS ALBIE HECHT AND SUSAN MACLAURY PRODUCED BY U. ROBERTO ROMANO AND RORY O’CONNOR DIRECTED BY U. ROBERTO ROMANO