Canaries in the Field (2012)

Canaries in the Field — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 22:33:36 +0000

Thank you to all of our friends, family and mentors for your support these last two years. We can now finally, gratefully (exhaustedly), say: The full 40-minute documentary is online! Click the “Watch the Film” link to the right to see it now for FREE!!

All our love,

R & J

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Canaries in the Field — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 23:23:29 +0000

The documentary “Canaries in the Field” has been a labor of love for the past two years: now, it’s completed and festival-ready and we need your help to pay for the licensing fees for two video clips! $2,300 isn’t a lot of money if everyone contributes what they can, but it seems gargantuan to two starving artists, so please donate!! Click on the link and submit $5, $10 or (if you’re feeling super generous during the holidays) even more via paypal! Love, Ruby and Jesse

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Welcome to Canaries!

Canaries in the Field — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 22:20:10 +0000

Canaries in the Field is a 40-minute documentary about the experience of migrant farmworkers in the United States. A common misconception (particularly bandied about during political discourse) is that all migrant laborers are undocumented. This is dreadfully far from the truth. The United States has offered guestworker programs for decades, allowing a foreign-born labor force to come to the United States with visas and work during a specified time frame. There are many different visas (just look up Guest worker program on Wikipedia) to choose from, but this film focuses on the H-2A visa which is particularly designated for agricultural work. Like most work visas, the H-2A guarantees the same wages to American laborers, worker’s compensation, etc. Like most work visas, all these provisions are mere fantasy.

Canaries follows in the footsteps of other great migrant worker exposes like 1960′s Harvest of Shame and 1990′s H-2 Worker with one small difference: it’s 2011 and we still treat our farm hands like disposable labor.

So why should you care about this? Hypothetically, let’s say that basic human rights are not a huge priority for you. Hypothetically. Then you should still care about these workers for two reasons: first, because the more they are underpaid (or flat out not paid), the more U.S.-born workers are underpaid; second, because migrant laborers are dying and getting sick from pesticides in the fields–these pesticides are on the fruit and vegetables (and tobacco!) you come into contact with every day.

Canaries was filmed on location in the farmlands of central Mexico and western Florida and is set for release Spring of 2012. Click the tabs to the right for our official movie poster, info about the filmmakers and links to farmworker advocacy groups. Stay tuned for updated trailers, production stills and screening information and don’t forget to like us on Facebook!

canariesinthefield

Canaries in the Field (2012)

Donate to Canaries!

Welcome to Canaries!