Brutal and Deadly

In Western society, marketing a movie is second only to making the movie itself. Millions are poured into carefully constructed leaks, mini-features, trailers, online campaigns. The marketing budget of a tent-pole summer blockbuster is large enough to create a whole series of indie films or to fight a minor war. In Ghana, you get an old flour sack, paints and a brush. And in Ghana, you bring the awesome.

At the moment, the Pinakothek der Moderne in Munich exhibits seventy hand-painted movie posters from Ghana. They are crude and often very brutal and completely over the top: Like a guy carrying a knife between his teeth, and there is also a bloody head stuck to the tip of the knife. A jar full of eyeballs. Often, hacked-off body parts seem to be added just willy-nilly or because the painter still had some red and pink paint to get rid off. But the posters also point to a completely different way of consuming and perceiving cinema. If you want to reexamine your reaction towards Hollywood's marketing campaigns (are they really so different to painting the words "very brutal! very deadly! don't miss this!" on an old flour sack?) and your way of watching movies, this can be a place to start. Go on a Sunday, when it's dirt cheap, and also visit the other exhibitions.