Keswick Film Club - One of the Hollywood Ten

Synopsis

Jeff Goldblum, Greta Scacchi, John Sessions, Peter Bowles
The true story of Herbert Biberman, one of the directors who was blacklisted and jailed for his leftist sympathies during the McCarthy era. Although expelled from the Directors' Guild and harassed by the FBI, Biberman went on to make Salt of the Earth (1954), an independent, neorealist film about striking miners in New Mexico which was initially banned in the USA by an Act of Congress. Now, however, it is regarded as one of the most important political films ever made. Biberman was married to actress Gale Sondergaard (played by firebrand Greta Scacchi) whose Oscar-winning career was cut short by his unflinching idealism. Director Karl Francis shifts skilfully between scenes of glamour and oppression, sticking close to this compelling history.
The story of its creation and lack of distribution is as interesting as the film itself and, subject to availability, Karl Francis will take part in a Q & A session after the screening.