Focus Features Gifts Early Screening of “The Danish Girl” to KC Organization
The Danish Girl, a thought-provoking true story of a transgender artist who goes through one of the very first gender reassignment surgeries, is scheduled for wide release in theatres December 25 but there are people in Kansas City who have the opportunity to see it a week and a half earlier than the rest of the U.S.
An early screening of The Danish Girl has been granted by Focus Features to the Kansas City non-profit organization The Transgender Institute.
We met the founder and director of The Transgender Institute (TTI), Caroline Gibbs, in December of 2014 during Kansas City-based Discovery Life television show New Girls on the Block, produced by Kansas City production company HINT with Los Angeles company Conveyor Media. TTI serves transgender patients globally with therapy, mentoring, resources and training programs as well as consultation for clinicians.
Gibbs reached out to the KC Film + Media Office in the Spring of 2015 with her idea to have a special screening here. We contacted Jody Rovick and Cindi Rogers, colleagues at Allied Integrated Marketing who work to market studio films in our region, we discovered that if we made a good case that a screening could be a reality. The film office assisted The Transgender Institute with a proposal to Focus Features that outlines how The Transgender Institute supports transgender people globally as well as how much an early screening would mean to their organization and supporters.
Our contacts at Allied were wonderful keeping us in the loop for months on the status of Focus Features’ decision. I wasn’t sure it was really going to happen but I kept telling Caroline to ‘hold the vision.’
Holding the vision worked – in late November we were informed by Allied that Focus Features granted an early screening!
A huge thank you to our friends in the Kansas City Allied Marketing office and to Focus Features for honoring Kansas City’s diverse community with this special event.
The stars of The Danish Girl, Eddie Redmayne and Alicia Vikander have been nominated for SAG and Golden Globe Awards for their performances. Check local listings for showtimes near you!