The union’s film series will present Salt of the Earth this Friday, May 11 in the PSC Union Hall, 61 Broadway, 16^th floor. Based on an actual strike at a zinc mine in New Mexico, the film exposes discrimination against Mexican-American miners who fought to attain wage parity with Anglo workers in other mines and to be treated humanely by their bosses. Many of the artists, including director Herbert Biberman, writer Michael Wilson, and producer Paul Jarrico, were blacklisted and thus forced to create one of the first independent US films. Doors open at 6:00 PM. Four dollar suggested donation. Space is limited! Light refreshments available.

Marilyn Stark, wife of Leonard Stark, who was the assistant cameraman on Salt of the Earth. Ms. Stark is an artist with a body of work stretching back several decades. She studied art at Syracuse University, and then Cooper Union. After a first career as a commercial artist, she then focused more on her own work. Leonard Stark died from mesothelioma in 1973, a result of his alternative military service during the 1940s as an electrician building destroyers in San Francisco. He was the assistant cameraman on Robert Flaherty’s Louisiana Story (1948) and had a successful career in documentaries and commercials. (Their son, Julian, teaches biology at Queensborough Community College, where he is also Vice-Chair of the PSC chapter.)