I hATE My Village

August 13, 2011 11:58 PM

Movie posters from the country of Ghana.

With the arrival of video and video cassettes during 1980s In Ghana (West Africa) a small-scale film distribution mobile Cinema was created..... This small size mobile " Cinema " operators were equipped with a television a Video and some times with a small portable generator and were moving from town to town from village to village operating and showing their films! (During the day inside social clubs or houses and during the night in the open air).

In order to attract more customers and in order to advertise their mission and business the need of huge posters was created and born!

posted by KevinSkomsvold (15 comments total)

Take that, Poland!
posted by Apocryphon at 1:29 AM on August 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

They look like they were all made by the same person.
posted by Flood at 2:38 AM on August 14, 2011

My Ghanaian friend, with the very common Twi name "Cujo" could never live down the film Cujo when it came out. "I used to a normal Ghanaian" he would say, "And now I am the new face of terror."
posted by zaelic at 5:20 AM on August 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Oh man...keep scrolling for Belarusian Scooby-Doo.
posted by Beardman at 6:20 AM on August 14, 2011 [2 favorites]

Previously and previouslier.
posted by Civil_Disobedient at 6:33 AM on August 14, 2011 [1 favorite]

If you hate your village so much, why are you eating them?
posted by MCMikeNamara at 7:29 AM on August 14, 2011

MCMikeNamara, Maybe it's a typo?
posted by applemeat at 7:49 AM on August 14, 2011

Demonic Cat! They're not that hard to get rid of....
posted by Kronos_to_Earth at 8:14 AM on August 14, 2011

Speaking of Cujo, the poster for it is one of the best.
posted by Nomyte at 9:06 AM on August 14, 2011

applemeat: "MCMikeNamara, Maybe it's a typo?"


My post title was a play on that poster. If you hate them, why are you eating them? I like to think it was suppose to say "I ATE My Village."
posted by KevinSkomsvold at 9:30 AM on August 14, 2011

I would hang every one of those in my house, and my wife would divorce me... so it's good that they're not for sale.
posted by Huck500 at 10:35 AM on August 14, 2011

They look like they were all made by the same person.

More to the point, is this person accepting commissions?
Because I need a family portrait painted in this style.
posted by squalor at 11:00 AM on August 14, 2011

Mefites around the Chicago area can check out an exhibition of Ghanaian posters like this at the Chicago Cultural Center, top floor. I walked into it not knowing what to expect and whew! They also have clips from some of the films rotating in a little theatre. It's free!
posted by damo at 11:05 AM on August 14, 2011

Creepy and wonderful.
posted by MexicanYenta at 11:28 AM on August 14, 2011

Huck500, they're very much for sale, but they're not cheap - about $250 each.

It's exciting to watch aspects of Ghanaian pop culture recognized as works of art. When I lived in Accra in 1993-4, collectors were just starting to buy barber signs, which are painted in similar styles on plywood. They're more durable than the movie posters, which were traditionally painted on flour sacks.

Unfortunately, the hand-painted signs are becoming more rare because color printing is increasingly cheap and common... and because more Ghanaians have DVD players and are buying videos on the streets instead of going to cinema. My guess is that many of the signs are painted by the same guys who did barber signs, and who now do storefronts and other decorative work.

I'm pretty sure "I Hate My Village" isn't a typo - it appears to be a Nigerian comedy circulating in Ghanaian theatres. I will try to pick up a copy on my next trip to Accra. For interested Mefi-ites, you could also check any local African grocery store - many stores are run by Ghanaians or Nigerians, and feature selections of Ghanaian and Nigerian films.
posted by obruni at 6:19 AM on August 15, 2011