Chai Brady
Distributors are “freezing out” promoters of a major pro-life film, according to promoters, making it likely many Irish cinema-goers won’t be able to view it locally.
UnPlanned has already been viewed by about two million people across 12 countries and tells the story of Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood clinic director and her decision to join the pro-life movement.
C.J. Williams, who is promoting the film in Ireland, said it now has to be “a grassroots push to influence cinemas to pick up the film by demonstrating a large segment of film viewers and consumers are interested”.
UnPlanned ran for months in the US and was in the top five at the box office, but there has been no bite from distributors in Ireland. Promoters are currently checking interest among cinema chains across the country.
Speaking to The Irish Catholic, Ms Williams said: “In the pre-screenings I’ve held in multiple nations, I’ve never seen audiences so engaged, or so moved by Abby’s story.
“With the issue of abortion, and how or whether it harms or helps women so recently in the Irish consciousness, UnPlanned is particularly timely, and I think there’s a great desire to see the truth of what Abby saw: the impact of impact of abortion. It changes everything.”
Life-altering event
Ms Johnson was one of the youngest Planned Parenthood directors in the US and worked in Texas and was involved in tens of thousands of abortions before having a massive change of heart after a life-altering event.
The group have set up a website promoting UnPlanned in Ireland at https://www.unplannedfilm.com/ireland and hope to have it in cinemas by the end of September or the beginning of October.