Negotiations (1953/2010)

Written and animated right after the now largely forgotten 1952 SMPTE-riots in Los Angeles, the movie was a scathing commentary on the state of economics in the film industry. Butch is seen operating here in the tradition of such works as Eduard Manet’s L’Exposition Universelle (1867); That is to say with the intent of entering, violently, into the debate about current affairs. The film, made in black and white, was roughly 5 minutes long (there seems to have been a first cut that was 7 minutes, but the version that was shown in cinemas the following year was just under 5 minutes – conflicting sources say either 4 min 30 sec, or 4 min 50 sec). The shoddy animation in and of itself was understood as an attack on the way workers were being treated (expected to grovel and beg for even the slightest salary increase – there has even been mention (in C. Faggins: Interspecies Breeding, Fish, and Strikes. The Life of a City. HardFact Press; Los Angeles, 1985. p. 67ff), of the supposed thank-you meeting that workers were to have with then California governor Earl Warren as one of the reasons for the riots).

Butch presents the negotiations, in his usual deadpan way, as quite removed from the reality of any actual work-situation. The worker (who is never shown) is at the mercy of these blundering idiots, who seem eternally unable to articulate any kind of actual opinion on the matters at hand. The musical score reinforces the sense of discontinuity between the two protagonists, and between the “negotiations” and the surroundings. This complete distrust of the possibility of any attempt at actual organized collective resistance would later garner severe condemnation from left-oriented critics. (Butch at one time answered this criticism in his usual succinct manner: “I am ambidextrous; I can jerk of with both my left and right hand.” - Quoted in: Semi, T. The Rhythms of Light. Looking at experimental cinema in the 30s, 40s, and 50s. CFI Press; Ontario, 1978)

All of these aspects have been updated for a modern audience by award-winning German director Harold Gefälscht, for this 2010 “reimagining”. Gefälscht, famous for his 1997 stop-motion political satire, Der Politikerin Esel-ficken, seemed the ideal person to tackle this crude subject in an appropriately honest way. Working with a large budget, and using two of Germany’s top voice-over actors, Gefälscht has produced a film very much in the spirit of Butch’s original, and we are proud to present it here in it’s entirety.