The SF Gay Men’s Chorus and Airbnb combined the power of travel, music and hospitality to create a feature documentary about an activist tour to the Deep South. The tour made prejudice personal, raised awareness of discriminatory bills, and built bridges from concert halls to churches to Airbnb homes. GAY CHORUS DEEP SOUTH premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival, winning Best Documentary Audience Award. It went on to show in 132 festivals worldwide, winning 34 best documentary awards. In 2020 it will make its way into living rooms around the world through MTV/Viacom and Airbnb’s global community.

The Brief:

Airbnb’s core values are belonging and acceptance. They wanted to further expand those values into the world whilst also celebrating the LGBTQ community on the 50th anniversary of activist riot Stonewall.

This is when we decided to partner with the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus on this tour to the deep south and create the brand’s first ever feature film.

Our objectives were threefold:

- Raise awareness around the surge in discriminatory laws in America, especially in the Deep South.

- Create real life examples of people of opposite views accepting each other in these divisive times.

- Build content that could be used in Universities, community centers, churches and families all over the world to discuss the themes of acceptance, belonging and bridging the divisiveness.

The tour sold out at every venue. An estimated audience of ~50k in the Deep South saw the live performance, including 10k+ Christian Church members. The ticket sales raised $300k+ for local LGBTQ community centers. Media impressions of the tour reached 40 million.

The documentary was showcased in 132 festivals on 5 continents. It won The Tribeca Film Festival’s Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature, an additional 32 Best Documentary Audience Awards at film festivals, and The Hamptons Documentary Festival Human Rights Award. It won a Cinema Eyes Honor Award, a SIMA Awards for social impact, was nominated for a GLAAD AWARD, and was named one of the greatest LGBTQ films of the year (Society of LGBTQ Critics). The impact will continue to grow as it reaches millions of homes; an Oscar Winning Executive Producer will distribute the film globally in 2020.

We targeted three audiences: The local communities and non profit organizations in the Deep South that were directly impacted by discrimination and the political divisiveness. Americans at large on both sides of the aisle liberal and conservative and then a global community of people who support the LGBTQ and are seeking for inspiration and hope to bridge the divisiveness and fight the discrimination in their own countries.

Gay Chorus Deep South was made over the course of two years from concept to World Premiere at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. It went on to play in over 132 festivals across 5 continents. With hundreds of other screenings at community centers, LGBTQ Youth centers, Universities, Public Schools and even several Christian Churches that are accepting or on the verge of becoming inclusive. In 2020, the film will be distributed by MTV Documentary Films in partnership with Airbnb’s community globally reaching over 90 countries and millions of households.

Engagement: Over 5 million media impressions, so far. And hundreds of thousands of viewers at our screenings.

Impact: Over 1 million dollars raised for local LGBTQ non-profits fighting for equality. And a countless amount of hearts and minds inspired or changed by the film and the Chorus' music.

Achievement against business target: This tour and film went from the goal of creating local awareness in the South and a targeted audience in America to reaching a global audience of all ages and belief systems.