It was the late 1980s, and the business of mobile cinema was flourishing in the humble West African country of Ghana. With a diesel generator, a projector, and a VCR loaded in the truck, these portable video clubs traveled across the rural areas of the country where there were no theaters or electricity, and brought the cinema experience there. With the advent of mobile cinemas came also the hand-painted movie posters which the mobile cinemas used to advertise the movie that they were screening.
To attract viewers, the video clubs needed to advertise their offerings. But they did not have the original movie posters, or the means to print alternatives -- the country's military rulers had even restricted the import of printing presses.
So they made their own, commissioning local artists to hand-paint them on used flour sacks. They were large, usually 40 to 50 inches in width, and 55 to 70 inches in height.
The posters have since made ripples in the art world, with early originals commanding high prices from collectors.
The demand for hand-painted movie posters started dying out in the mid-2000s, but the demand suddenly grew again in 2015.
More details about this over at CNN.
(Image Credit: Brian Chankin/ CNN)
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The Jurassic Park Poster is the best.
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