Woes van Haaften

March traditionally is the month of the Oscars and the yearly Ball of Books (Boekenbal). The two worlds are connected in one respect since both books and films are cultural products that tell a story. On the other hand these worlds compete with each other. When a book is adapted for the screen, it’s only a matter of time before reviews come out stating that ‘the book was better’ than the film. By unifying both events we had the ultimate ground to motivate the public to consider this cliché.

Our creative idea started with the familiar image of the Academy Award statue. We realized our play on this image could be communicated most effectively on a poster. Therefore we screen printed 120 posters showing the statue reading a book. An immediate connection is made between the two worlds: would even Oscar prefer the printed version?

The posters were presented to publishing houses, book stores and various cultural institutions. The literary world embraced the project, so much so that the demand for the posters exceeded the number of copies we printed. Several bookshops used the poster in thematic displays.