Florida filmmaker Ruby Blackerby Hernandez wants audiences to see her documentary, Canaries in the Field, and take a hard look at “how deep the corruptions in the agriculture industry really go.”
Despite progress on some issues, she says many of the abuses that went on in the farm fields decades ago are still there in plain sight today.
“It's not just an immigration issue anymore,” Hernandez says. “Human rights abuses, wage garnishing and health issues affect everyone living in the U.S., and also those eating U.S.-grown food, not just the field workers.”
Most Americans don’t know the story behind the food that’s on their tables. Canaries in the Field gives people a glimpse at the lives of immigrant workers who dwell in the shadows of the nation’s bounty.
The film explores the struggles of migrant workers and their families. One of the most compelling stories is that of 6-year-old Carlitos Candelario, who was born without limbs to parents who picked tomatoes in fields sprayed with pesticides outside Immokalee, Fla.
“When I tell people about Carlitos, who was born without arms and legs because his mother worked in the fields when she was pregnant, I typically get a reaction of pity,” Hernandez says. “I hear, Oh, that's terrible!’ and then later that day they go to the grocery store and buy tomatoes from those same fields.”
In 2008, Florida tomato grower Ag-Mart paid an undisclosed settlement to Carlitos’ parents to help compensate them for the extraordinary care the boy will need for the rest of his life.
“Carlitos is in school and doing well, learning at the same pace as his classmates, but his father still works in the fields to support his family,” Hernandez says. “Agricultural labor is never going to disappear. We need to ask ourselves how can we, as consumers, fix the ills that plague the system?”
Hernandez was raised in West Palm Beach, Fla., where she first took an interest in local farmworker advocacy. She completed Canaries in 2011, shortly after graduating with film and history degrees from Wesleyan University. The director traveled to rural Mexico to film accounts from migratory laborers about their work in the fields and the corruptions surrounding a U.S. visa system that badly needs repair. She has also lived in Cairo, Egypt, and speaks English, Spanish and Arabic. Hernandez’s collaborator and director of photography was Jesse Walker, a recent graduate of the University of Florida in telecommunications. Walker runs a freelance production company and works in sports media in Gainesville.
“Jesse and I have known each other since we were six, and we studied film together in middle and high school. When I had the opportunity to direct this film, he was my first choice for a cinematographer.”
Canaries features original music by Pedro Hernandez Ibarra, the director’s father, and Elijah Hernandez, her brother, as well as excerpts from songs by JSMW.
“It's nice to have a composer (or two!) in the family because artistic collaboration came very naturally to us,” she says. “I could say something to my dad like, ‘A little less Caetano Veloso and a little more Tito Puente at shot seven’ and he would understand exactly where I was going. The end result is phenomenal. The score blends elements of Latin jazz, traditional ballads and classical music that I think embodies a lot of the emotions within the film.”
Hernandez’s “canaries” are sounding a warning to the country as they labor in their fields. It is a warning about the safety of Americans’ foods and a call to reform a dysfunctional immigration system that fosters abuse.
“People hear the phrase ‘migrant worker’ and think ‘illegal’ or ‘undocumented’ but immigration, especially in an agricultural context, often concerns legal workers who come to the U.S. on legitimate visas,” she says. “We need to recognize that the plight of the migrant worker is not a partisan issue. Republicans, Democrats and Independents need to come together to protect migrant workers because if they are underpaid, the trickle-down results in American workers being underpaid, not to mention the pesticides and other health issues.”
