African Ghana Jason Goes To Hell Poster
A while back, we were on the lookout for new versions of posters related to the Friday the 13th franchise. During our research we learned about a whole new type of poster that was created in the African-Ghana region. Below is a little history on the oil paintings that were created and used to promote traveling cinemas.
In the 1980s video cassette technology made it possible for “mobile cinema” operators in Ghana to travel from town to town and village to village creating temporary cinemas. The touring film group would create a theatre by hooking up a TV and VCR onto a portable generator and playing the films for the people to see.
In order to promote these showings, artists were hired to paint large posters of the films (usually on used canvas flour sacks). The artists were given the artistic freedom to paint the posters as they desired - often adding elements that weren’t in the actual films, or without even having seen the movies. When the posters were finished they were rolled up and taken on the road (note the heavy damages). The “mobile cinema” began to decline in the mid-nineties due to greater availability of television and video; as a result the painted film posters were substituted for less interesting/artistic posters produced on photocopied paper.
The artistic freedom that these artists were given allowed for the creation of some very interesting and sometimes bizarre posters that, as screenwriter Walter Hill wrote, were quite often “more interesting than the films.”
One of the first African Ghana posters we found online states 'Friday the 13th' as the film title, but it clearly was painted for Jason Goes To Hell. Notice the dagger in Jason's chest, the shovel in his hand (What he used to knock Steven over the head with) and at the very bottom of the painting you see the hell demon crawling out of the Deputy's neck which, in the film, happened after Steven sliced open the possessed Deputy's neck using a machete.
This is a beautiful poster and it is great to find new and unique treasures like this promotional poster to share with the fans!
In the 1980s video cassette technology made it possible for “mobile cinema” operators in Ghana to travel from town to town and village to village creating temporary cinemas. The touring film group would create a theatre by hooking up a TV and VCR onto a portable generator and playing the films for the people to see.
In order to promote these showings, artists were hired to paint large posters of the films (usually on used canvas flour sacks). The artists were given the artistic freedom to paint the posters as they desired - often adding elements that weren’t in the actual films, or without even having seen the movies. When the posters were finished they were rolled up and taken on the road (note the heavy damages). The “mobile cinema” began to decline in the mid-nineties due to greater availability of television and video; as a result the painted film posters were substituted for less interesting/artistic posters produced on photocopied paper.
The artistic freedom that these artists were given allowed for the creation of some very interesting and sometimes bizarre posters that, as screenwriter Walter Hill wrote, were quite often “more interesting than the films.”
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This is a beautiful poster and it is great to find new and unique treasures like this promotional poster to share with the fans!
