After I Pick the Fruit
The Lives of Migrant Women
About the Film
After I Pick the Fruit follows the lives of five immigrant farmworker women over a ten-year period as they labor in the apple orchards and fields of rural western New York, migrate seasonally to Florida, raise their families, and try to hide from the Bush-era immigration raids that were conducted in response to 9/11. Filmed in New York, Florida, and Mexico, this intimate, bittersweet, feature-length film illuminates a community that is nearly invisible to most Americans yet is essential to putting food on our tables. It will change the way you look at our national ‘immigration problem.’
After I Pick the Fruit was released in 2011 and has been screened widely at film festivals, colleges, secondary schools, community organizations, and churches. The director and film have won international human rights awards, and the film continues to be part of college curricula throughout the US. The film takes up topics — including international migration, changes in agriculture and the challenges of family separations — through the lived experiences of families, rural communities, and farmers. It brings to light surprising ways that American agriculture and small towns are being remade by, and are also remaking life on, the border. Its situations reveal truths that continue to be relevant today.
After I Pick the Fruit can be viewed at no cost on Vimeo.com.
About the Director
Nancy Ghertner, director of After I Pick the Fruit: The Lives of Migrant Women, is a visual artist and filmmaker working in experimental and documentary film. Nancy has directed and produced numerous documentaries, including After I Pick the Fruit, In Our Own Backyard: The Hidden Realities of Women Farmworkers, and her most recent documentary, the award-winning Voices from the Barrens: Native People, Blueberries and Sovereignty. She is an active member of human rights organizations in New York State where she lives and advocates for the rights of immigrants, farm workers, and Indigenous People.
Contact Information
To purchase a DVD or to find out about screening opportunities, please fill out the contact form on the Voices from the Barrens website. Email submissions go directly to the Director, Nancy Ghertner.