We are thrilled to announce this year’s Miami Film Festival GEMS artwork, created by Andrew Sheets, the festival’s former Marketing Director.

Miami has always had such a distinct visual identity. You hear the name and immediately picture the colors, the architecture, the ocean, the palms, the music. There’s a nostalgia to it that feels cinematic, and that became a big part of the inspiration for this campaign.

“[It] is one of the few places I am dropped into when I hear its name. It comes with a feeling, a narrative. Saturated in pink and blue lush humidities, my ears take in the crisps of the breezy palms. South Beach and Coral Gables, I float through it all like ocean spray. Cuban music and Art Deco buildings. Time slows,” Sheets said about Miami.

With the changing landscapes in the world of both cinema and technology, Miami Film Festival wanted to highlight the connection of the past and the present, leaning on archival photography and video to represent the timelessness of film, as well as its lasting nature. The campaign encapsulates what Miami Film Festival GEMS is, represented by this year’s tagline: Tomorrow’s classics, today.

On the inspiration for the artwork, Sheets said, “I wanted to cut through all the noise of today – our constant rushing forward. I wanted to look back. Focus towards the nostalgia that captures that cinematic storytelling I have in my mind.”

We want to extend a massive thank you to the Wolfson Archive, FIU, and the Boynton Beach City Library for their assistance in obtaining these archival images.

Miami Film Festival GEMS 2026 program will be revealed and on sale October 7.