That shameful newsroom directive, which feeds on the public’s fascination with the salacious, served as the primary inspiration for this outsized publication. With 60,000+ attendees and an ad campaign that covered San Francisco’s public spaces in big, pink triangles, all eyes were on Frameline in the summer of 2025 and Grass was there to capture their attention. It was our third year working as the festival’s publications team. 

For nearly half a century Frameline has weathered countless cultural and political storms, creating a platform for queer filmmakers against the odds. As public arts funding and LGBTQ+ rights entered a period of uncertainty, the organization’s leaders turned to Grass to make a statement about the radical nature of queer cinema and the importance of visibility in the media. 

With PACT studio’s bold festival branding (a reference to the pink triangle as a symbol of queer resistance) and slogan (The World is Watching) as source material, I conceptualized and co-designed a tabloid-style program complete with scandalous headlines ripped from the plots of the year’s featured films, an archival essay co-authored by Audre Lorde, cinephile horoscopes, and a guide to Frameline49’s 145 featured films. In addition to referencing tabloid sensationalism, we took visual inspiration from the radical independent presses of the 60s, 70s, and 80s.