In the United Kingdom, Joensen’s work was often caught up in the "Video Nasties" panic of the early 1980s. While most "nasties" were horror films, the Animal Farm videos were used as evidence by proponents of the Video Recordings Act 1984 to argue that the home video market required strict censorship and classification.

These were often low-budget, documentary-style recordings rather than scripted films.

"Animal Farm" is an animated film adaptation of George Orwell's classic novel of the same name. The novel and film depict a group of farm animals who rebel against their human oppressors, only to see their new government devolve into tyranny.

The footage was not originally filmed as a single movie. Instead, it was a compilation of clips from various legally produced Danish short films from the 1960s and early 1970s, many of which were produced by the Color Climax Corporation Production

: Much of the content originated from the 1970 documentary A Summerday (also known as Animal Lover ) and loops produced by the Danish company Color Climax Corporation .