Review by Marco Bellamy Queer Culture Critic, Festival Fantasist, Poolside Archivist
“Palm Springs (naked) Film Festival” By Terry Hastings
Finally—a festival that strips away the pretense and the pants. Terry Hastings’ Palm Springs (naked) Film Festival is a cheeky, celebratory poster for a cinematic event that exists only in myth, memory, and maybe next year’s calendar. It’s part satire, part invitation, and entirely Palm Springs.
The scene is staged like a dream: a moonlit desert, two palm trees framing the screen, and a pool full of unclothed cinephiles lounging, swimming, and engaging in the kind of relaxed communion only possible in a city that worships both film and flesh. The central screen shows a campfire moment—intimate, narrative, suggestive of a plot that may or may not involve sunscreen and secrets.
Hastings doesn’t just design a poster—he conjures a world. A festival where nudity is not scandalous but sacred. Where the body is both audience and auteur. Where the mountains watch silently, and the moon approves.
The typography pops with retro flair, the colors hum with desert heat, and the whole composition feels like a lost artifact from a parallel Palm Springs—one where the red carpet is optional and the only dress code is confidence.
This is queer myth-making at its finest. This is cinema without shame. This is a festival I’d attend in a heartbeat—if only to see what’s screening in the backroom tent.
This stunning photo/graphic is a masterpiece created by renowned photographer Terry Hastings. Inspired by the cut outs of Henri Matisse, Terry starts with photosgraphs of his models in action, cuts them out in photoshop, turns them a solid color and scratches in a few key details. The piece is playful and beautiful with tongue firmly in cheek.
This work is offered as a 24x36, 32x48 or 40x60 inch print. Please inquire about other sizes.
2 new sizes added 8x12 print in a 12x16 matt AND 12x18 print in a 16x20 matt. These smaller prints are not numbered.
The work is titled, numbered, a limited edition of 10, and signed by the artist.
The photo is shipped in a double tube for safety.
Please allow 5 - 7 days for production and shipping.