Ruskin House Film Screen is showing Salt Of The Earth about a strike by Mexican-American zinc miners in New Mexico in 1951.
The blacklisted Hollywood filmmakers – director Herbert Biberman and screenwriter Michael Wilson – had already been punished for refusing to testify before the House on Un-American Activities Committee in 1950.
After serving six months in jail, they decided to make a film – a “crime to fit the punishment”. Every effort was made to try and prevent completion of the filming, processing and editing, but the FBI and American secret service’s efforts failed. On its release, Salt was critically acclaimed but few cinemas in America dared to screen it due to the Hollywood studios threats that they would no longer receive their pictures.
In 1992, Salt Of The Earth was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress to preserve this part of American culture for posterity.
Ruskin House is also screening a short documentary on the making of Salt of the Earth.
Tickets £5.00 (cash) from Ruskin House bar/on the door,
or £6.13 at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/781017774187
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