This incredibly strange short film was commissioned by the union ACTT (Association of Cinematograph, Television and allied Technicians, of which the filmmaker and novelist B.S. Johnson was a member) as part of its action against the Industrial Relations Bill passed by parliament in 1971.
Unfair! (1970, 8 mins): provocative agitprop piece with Bill Owen.
Although perhaps best known for ground-breaking novels such as The Unfortunates and Christy Malry’s Own Double-Entry, BS Johnson was also the director a number of a number of extraordinary and daring films that have been out of circulation for decades. You’re Human Like the Rest of Them brings these rare and fascinating works - experimental shorts, humorous animation, provocative agitprop and uniquely personal documentaries - together for the first time, revealing Johnson to have been as radical and inventive a filmmaker as he was a writer. From his award-winning 1967 experimental film You’re Human Like the Rest of Them, which was based on his own poem, written in decasyllabics, to his ground-breaking TV films, including The Unfortunates (BBC) and the extraordinary Fat Man on a Beach (HTV), Johnson’s work is fuelled by his passionate belief in the power of words and images to convey the truth of our existence, and is filled with his infectious sense of humour. Amongst the ten premiere presentations in this unique collection is Not Counting the Savages, Johnson's uncompromising 1972 TV play, directed by Mike Newell. Considered lost for decades, it is presented from the only surviving material a black and white video recording discovered only a few months ago in the Johnson family home.