Sale of Movie Posters to Benefit SebArts

Collection of 1,100 posters from Sebastiani Theater in Sonoma

This Sunday August 6th from 2 - 6pm, the Sebastopol Center for the Arts is hosting its first annual Open House, which it calls “a FREE day of Art, Music + Creativity.” The posters described in this article will be on sale in the Fireside Room during the Open House.

Flo McCann was the former theater operator of the Sebastiani Theater in the city of Sonoma from the late 70’s to early 90’s and she collected the movie posters of that era. Now she is making them available for sale through the Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Proceeds will benefit SebArts.

Flo is the older sister of Sue Ellen McCann, who until recently was the interim Executive Director for Sebastopol Center for the Arts. Flo, Sue Ellen and a third sister, Judy, also operated theaters in Petaluma from 1977 to 1980.

According to a press release, Flo McCann was one of the first women in Northern California to negotiate terms and deals with film distributors on behalf of theaters throughout the region. Most important, it was Flo who procured and collected the posters which were printed in limited quantities and not sold to the public. This is a key reason why they are so rare, collectable and often very valuable today.

“I’ve been storing these posters for decades and recently pulled them out of storage to close down my storage unit,” says McCann. “It is a pleasure to make them available to the folks in West County to collect and own these one-of-a-kind cultural artifacts.” ,

The Sebastopol Center for the Arts will offer for sale more than 1,100 individual movie posters dating from the late 1970’s to the early 1990’s. The 27” x 41” posters were displayed in the vestibule and lobby of the historic Sebastiani Theater to promote upcoming and current films and sold only to theater operators.

Prices for all posters range from $20 to $400. Proceeds from the sales will benefit SebARTS operations and programs like the Sebastopol Documentary Film Project, ceramic studio, Open Studios, youth art classes and other programs. For more information, visit www.SebARTS.org/movie-poster.