The end card has two cryptic abbreviations: BAADC, that may be interpreted as "Bonjour aux amis du club" (meaning, greetings to my club's friends), and MAV, for "Mort aux vaches" (French slang meaning, death to the cops). According to film researcher Jenifer Papararo, the acronym B.A.A.D.C, would mean "bonjour aux amis de calamité," which translates as a a greeting to friends of disgrace.
Originally made for distribution in limited edition prints for private collectors, there were three attempts to show the film:
1954, in France, a cut version at the Cinémathèque Française;
1964, by Jonas Mekas with a smuggled copy for private showings - eventually frustrated by the police;
1966, by Saul Landau in two sessions in Los Angeles, California - the first at San Francisco Mime Troupe's headquarters (an ancient church), Mission District, and the second at the Sheraton Palace Hotel - under police pressure and refusals from theater owners to rent them. These LA showings to capacity crowded theaters ended up in a notable court case that went to a 5-4 vote in the US Supreme Court to ban the film on obscenity reasons.
1972, in Denmark, with no problems.
The producer Nikos Papatakis assigned the film to a Distributor, who got it registered in France - visa # 44127 of March 14, 1975. The film, with a musical score, and a few cuts by the producer, was shown at the Cinémathèque Française, and applied for, and won a money prize as a new, quality film from the jury of the CNC (Centre national de la cinématographie). Jean Genet, who had directed and edited the film, and even participated briefly in one scene, was not happy with this.
The 35mm film stock to make the short was given to Genet by French Cinematheque curator Henri Langlois.
French visa # 44127.