Episode 2 - Emily Cohen Ibañez & Ashley Solis Pavon - "It Takes Two"

women filmmakersIndigenous filmmakersColumbian-American FilmmakersProtagonist StewardshipHispanic/Latinx Filmmakers

Jun 19

June 19, 2020

In this episode, I speak with director/writer, Emily Cohen Ibañez, and protagonist/writer, Ashley Solis Pavon about their upcoming project Fruits of Labor and what it’s like to collaborate on the film making process. Like Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock say, “It Takes Two.” I spoke with them at the 2020 Big Sky Documentary Film Festival.

Photo Credit: Andrew Kemmis Photography

[Image description: Ashley Solis Pavon sits in a chair. She wears a grey sweater and blue jeans. Emily Cohen-Ibañez sits next to her on the arm of the chair to Ashley’s right. She wears a beige sweater, a burgundy blouse, and blue jeans. The background is black.]

Photo Credit: Gabriella Garcia-Pardo

[Image description: Ashley Solis Pavon stands outside in a strawberry field. She wears a black and white hoodie and a red bandana covers her mouth. Her hands are in her pockets.]

Emily’s Bio

Emily Cohen Ibañez (director/producer/cinematographer) is a Colombian-American filmmaker who 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 debut feature documentary BODIES AT WAR/MINA (2015) premiered at El Festival de Cine de Bogotá where it was nominated for a UNICEF Award. The Guardian published her most recent short, FRUITS OF LABOUR, which also played at the Roxie Theatre in San Francisco. Her short IRAQ VETERANS AGAINST THE WAR PERFORM OPERATION FIRST CASUALTY premiered at Santa Fe Independent Film Festival and the Society for Visual Anthropology. She is currently working on her feature film, FRUITS OF LABOR, with a planned release in 2021. The National Science Foundation, Fulbright, the Wenner-Gren Foundation, BAVC National Media Maker, JustFilms Ford Foundation, California Humanities, Nia Tero, Firelight Media Documentary Lab, 4th World Indigenous Media Lab Fellowship, and SFFILM FilmHouse Residency Program amongst others have supported her work.

Ashley’s Bio

Ashley Solis Pavon is a teenage farm worker, 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.

WUwD Episode 2 - Emily Cohen Ibañez & Ashley Solis Pavon Transcript

Fruits of Labor Logline

A Mexican-American teenager dreams of graduating high school, when increased ICE raids in her community threaten to separate her family and force her to become the breadwinner for her family.

Fruits of Labor Synopsis

Set in an agricultural town on the central coast of California, FRUITS OF LABOR is a coming of age story about an American teenager traversing the seen and unseen forces that keep her family trapped in poverty. A lyrical meditation on adolescence, nature and ancestral forces, the film asks, what does it mean to come into one’s power as a working young woman of color in the wealthiest nation in the world?