FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

From Executive Producer Eva Longoria and Shine Global
THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA

DOCUMENTARY EXPOSES PLIGHT OF CHILD MIGRANT WORKERS IN THE UNITED STATES

“STRAIGHTFORWARD, INTIMATE and HEARTBREAKING.”Susan Linden, The Los Angeles Times

“In its modest way, calls to mind The Grapes of Wrath .”Mike Hale, The New York Times

WINNER
Outstanding Filmmaker
&
Audience Award – Best Documentary

San Antonio Film Festival
Coming to DVD and Digital Download Platforms on October 11, 2011
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LOS ANGELES, CA (September 7, 2011) – After a national theatrical run in July followed by screening events across the country, THE HARVEST/LA COSECHA will be broadcast nationally on EPIX, the multiplatform media service, and EpixHD.com on October 5, 2011 and then released on DVD and digital download platforms such as; iTunes, Amazon, Xbox, Playstation, Vudu, & Blockbuster on October 11, 2011. This Shine Global production, directed by U Roberto Romano and Executive Produced by Eva Longoria, examines the lives of child migrant laborers. The film focuses on three Latino youths; Zulema Lopez, 12, Perla Sanchez, 14 and Victor Huapilla,16, who are among the 400,000 children who work as migrant laborers on America’s farms.

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 large 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

ABOUT SHINE GLOBAL: Founded in 2005, Shine Global, a non-profit production company has given voice to some of the world’s most at-risk children, shared their stories and inspired millions of viewers. Their goal is to end the abuse and exploitation of children worldwide through the production of films. They have won more than 20 major film awards, including an Academy Award-nomination for the film War/Dance, two Emmys, and Best Director Documentary at Sundance.

SYNOPSIS: 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 work as migrant farm laborers, 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. www.theharvestfilm.com | Facebook | Twitter |

SRP: $24.95 | TRT: 80 minutes
Street Date: 10/11/11 | UPC: 881394113527
Catalog: CLS 1135 | Genre: Documentary
DVD EXTRAS:
• Deleted scenes: Interviews with other child migrant workers – Crystal, James and Aaron – not featured in the film
• Educational tools
• Footage from the MALDEF Conference featuring Eva Longoria and the Shine Global co- founders Susan MacLaury and Albie Hecht

Hi-Res DVD Box Art: http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/clscatalog/2011/Harvest_3D_HR.jpg
Low-Res DVD Bow Art: http://www.cinemalibrestudio.com/clscatalog/2011/Harvest_3D_LR.jpg

ABOUT CINEMA LIBRE STUDIO: Cinema Libre Studio is a leader in the distribution of social-issue documentaries and features by passionate filmmakers. Headquartered in Los Angeles, the Cinema Libre team has released over one hundred films including the Sundance Audience Award‐Winning FUEL, THE END OF POVERTY, and Oliver Stone’s SOUTH OF THE BORDER. The studio is developing John Perkins’ best‐selling memoirs, CONFESSIONS OF AN ECONOMIC HIT MAN, into a major motion picture. For more information and updates, please visit: www.cinemalibrestudio.com

For screener and interview requests contact:
Cassie Brewer, Publicity Coordinator at Cinema Libre Studio, 818.349.8822, cbrewer (at) cinemalibrestudio (dot) com