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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Mar 29, 2016 23:56:01 GMT -6
variety.com/2016/film/news/vaxxed-anti-vaccine-documentary-cinema-libre-1201741603/Controversial Anti-Vaccination Documentary Gets Release From Cinema Libre Cinema Libre Studio has announced it will distribute the controversial documentary “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,” Variety has learned exclusively. The distributor’s announcement came late Tuesday, three days after the Tribeca Film Festival pulled “Vaxxed” from its lineup with festival co-founder Robert De Niro explaining it did not contribute to or further the discussion he had hoped for about issues surrounding autism. The documentary will premiere Friday at the Angelika FiIm Center in New York City. Cinema Libre has not revealed future distribution plans other than saying it will be “widely released” in other cities. “Vaxxed” is co-written and directed by Andrew Wakefield, a former surgeon and medical researcher who published a discredited 1998 research paper that claimed that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was linked to autism. Wakefield was accused of professional misconduct and falsifying information in that study, and the Lancet, the journal that ran the research, retracted the piece. The British doctor has been barred from practicing medicine in the U.K. “Vaxxed” purports to investigates the claims of a senior scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who revealed that the CDC had allegedly manipulated and destroyed data on an important study about autism and the MMR vaccine. Cinema Libre Studio said Tuesday it has been working with the “Vaxxed” team since the fall and has acquired worldwide distribution rights from Autism Media Channel. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no link between vaccination and autism. The anti-vaccination movement has lowered vaccination rates, which in turn has been linked to a recurrence of vaccine-preventible diseases such as measles and mumps. In an open letter last week, documentary filmmaker Penny Lane (“Our Nixon”) described Wakefield as a “discredited and dangerous anti-vaccination quack.” Cinema Libre Chairman Philippe Diaz said in a statement, “We chose to distribute this film to correct a major issue, which is the suppression of medical data by a governmental agency that may very well be contributing to a significant health crisis. The media storm of last week also revealed another issue; the hyper mediatization by some members of the media and the documentary community who had not even seen the film, as well as Tribeca executives, which condemned it as anti-vaccine.” Diaz also asserted that neither the film not Wakefield are anti-vaccine. “Wakefield’s concern for the last twenty years has been about making sure that vaccines are safe for children,” he added. “This is why we decided to release the film now rather than as originally planned later in the year.” Richard Castro, head of distribution, said, “It’s disturbing that an American film festival can succumb so easily to pressure to censor a film that it has already selected an announced. On Friday I received a call from Tribeca executives expressing concerns about showing the film, but no opportunity was afforded our filmmakers to even address those concerns. When I questioned the rationale, it was indicated that sponsors’ interest was a factor.” “Vaxxed” is produced by Del Bigtree and includes interviews with Dr. Brian Hooker, to whom Thompson leaked documents as well as interviews with several autism “experts” (Dr. Doreen Granpeesheh, Mark Blaxill, Polly Tommey), practicing family physicians (Dr. James M. Sears, Dr. Rachel Ross), former pharmaceutical drug representative Brandy Vaughn, research scientists (Dr. Luc Montagnier, Stephanie Seneff) and Rep. Bill Posey (R.-Fla.). De Niro and his wife, Grace Hightower, have an autistic child. He said in his March 26 statement that it was “critical” that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. “The Festival doesn’t seek to avoid or shy away from controversy,” he added. “However, we have concerns with certain things in this film that we feel prevent us from presenting it in the Festival program. We have decided to remove it from our schedule.”
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 1, 2016 17:19:04 GMT -6
www.indiewire.com/article/vaxxed-from-cover-up-to-catastrophe-is-designed-to-trick-you-review-20160401'Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe' is Designed to Trick You (Review) The controversial documentary pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival is one-sided propaganda. There's a lot of sad piano music and distressed parents in "Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe," but next to nothing in terms of real science. Directed by Andrew Wakefield, the British former gastroenterologist responsible for the debunked theory linking vaccines with autism, "Vaxxed" amounts to a summary of his brash movement's unfounded arguments. Inexplicably added to the Tribeca Film Festival lineup before getting dropped due to backlash, the movie would have fit better in a sidebar showcasing tone-deaf agitprop alongside the likes of Dinesh D'Souza's gloomy "2016: Obama's America" and Stephen K. Bannon's hagiographic Sarah Palin clip show "The Undefeated." But Wakefield's self-aggrandizing approach walks a more troubling ethical line, pushing an outrageous agenda only evident to viewers willing to look beneath its paranoid surface. Wakefield doesn't just have a dog in this fight; he is the dog. In 1998, the erstwhile researcher published a paper targeting the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella) that positioned statistical connections between vaccinated children and autism cases. Scrutinized by the international medical community, his findings were so vehemently rejected that he was stripped of his medical license, but the damage was done. With vaccinations already shunned by religious communities and parents distrustful of medical practices they don't understand, Wakefield's claims provided just the right volume of fear-mongering to kickstart a movement. Shifting between media reports and a handful of anti-vaccine activists — including, naturally, a straight-faced Wakefield himself — "Vaxxed" makes epic conspiratorial claims, with the Center for Disease Control (CDC) emerging as its greatest target. Proclaiming that the organization has buried connections between autism and vaccines, "Vaxxed" presents a series of secretly recorded phone calls as its main coup. These conversations, between environmental researcher Brian Hooker and CDC "whistleblower" William Thompson, were previously summarized in a short video that Wakefield circulated last year. Since then, they have led to a book-length set of allegations and countless speculation about how much information the calls actually reveal. In the snippets shown throughout the movie, they hint at some modicum of disorganization to the CDC's research, but hardly validate the outlandish claims at the root of Wakefield's studies, which have themselves been suspected of biased reporting tactics. Needless to say, he's not the most credible person to helm a supportive overview. Nevertheless, "Vaxxed" works overtime to mimic the look of a credible research project, with charts and graphs tossed around to lend an air of authenticity. But no amount of data sets — nor the numerous tearful parents recalling their healthy children transforming into autism cases — can change the utter lack of substance within these claims. Wakefield sounds the alarm about a rise in autism coinciding with vaccinations as if the two were intrinsically linked; at no point does anyone address the possibility that these are discrete phenomena. Any high school math student will tell you that correlation is not causation, but Wakefield's team didn't get the memo. The most egregious argument of the anti-vaccination movement, reiterated with utter seriousness in "Vaxxed," finds Wakefield playing the race card. In a segment of the film titled "The African American Effect," Wakefield emphasizes research claiming that black children are particularly susceptible to developing autism after receiving the vaccine, with the assumption being they were somehow genetically predisposed to the trigger rather than the disease itself. This allegation marks the one time that a detail from the recorded Thompson call sounds fairly accurate: When Hooker asserts that "race is downplayed" in the CDC findings, Thompson replies, "Of course." Set to an ominous score and the jittery graphic of an audio file, these conversations carry the aura of devious intentions. But in moments like these, Thompson just sounds like he's rolling his eyes at absurd insinuations. Any viewer of "Vaxxed" willing to look at its individual components should be doing the same. Wakefield's by-the-numbers approach to didactic storytelling relies on tons of random factoids positioned out of context to drive home his agenda. An end credit declares that "every seven minutes, a child in the U.S. is diagnosed with autism," the kind of tenuous data set that passes for hard evidence in Wakefield's bizarro universe. In a statement leading up to the film's release, Wakefield's co-writer Del Bigtree claimed that "Vaxxed" is "not an anti-vaccine movie," which is kind of like saying "Triumph of the Will" is anti-Hitler. Strung together in obvious ways to induce a constant sense of dread (look out for the slo-mo shot of a crying child!), "Vaxxed" shamelessly repeats the same non-arguments over and over again, drowning facts in murky proclamations. Bigtree, a television journalist who became a primary Wakefield defender, surfaces in the movie to proclaim that the doctor has been censored by larger forces. (He also attended the first public screening of “Vaxxed” in New York, where he was surrounded by skeptics and fans alike afterward, clearly pleased with the attention.) But “Vaxxed” never tries to demystify its wildest insinuations. While the pharmaceutical industry is nobody's idea of a perfect system, the idea of a grand conspiracy to make a dime off MMR vaccines while creating widespread autism sounds like much ado about nothing. There's a lot of Shakespearean hubris at the root of "Vaxxed," a tale of sound and fury signifying nothing but its own homegrown idiocy. Grade: D "Vaxxed" is currently playing at New York's Angelika Film Center with an expansion to other cities planned.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 3, 2016 18:54:19 GMT -6
variety.com/2016/film/reviews/vaxxed-from-cover-up-to-catastrophe-review-1201744442/Film Review: ‘Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe’ Bad publicity may be good publicity for this paranoia-stoking documentary about purported links between autism and vaccines. Having their documentary accepted — and then quickly disinvited — by the Tribeca Film Festival doubtless was a barely disguised blessing for the makers of “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,” a film that traffics aggressively in widely debunked theories regarding alleged links between the MMR vaccine (measles, mumps and rubella) and autism. Without the publicity generated by the Tribeca turnaround, this slickly produced but scientifically dubious hodgepodge of free-floating paranoia, heart-rending imagery – lots of shots of cute infants who reportedly were damaged by vaccines — and anti-Big Pharma conspiracy mongering likely would have preached to the converted during a handful of theatrical engagements, then slid into the relative obscurity of non-commercial exhibition and home video. Given its now-elevated profile, however, “Vaxxed” is bound to have at least a slightly longer shelf life, and may even benefit from being attacked by scientists, film critics and other “establishment” types. Certainly, such attacks will not put off the film’s target audience of skeptical parents who, for reasons ranging from resentment of government mandates to deeply held religious beliefs, have long attempted to avoid having their children vaccinated for infectious diseases. The anti-vaccination movement has long been depicted as more or less a crusade of the idiot fringe by most mainstream media — in a memorable 2009 episode of “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” for example, a crusading D.A. actually pressed charges against the mother of an unvaccinated boy who fatally infected another child — so this feature-length confirmation of worst fears could be viewed as welcome and overdue counterbalance. On the other hand: The filmmakers may have inadvertently offered the most damning appraisal of their own project by including a clip of Penn Jillette (of Penn & Teller) dismissing the link between autism and vaccinations: “F—k that! It’s total bulls—t!” “Vaxxed” is the handiwork of first-time (and, probably, last-time) director Andrew Wakefield, a British gastroenterologist who collaborated on a study linking the MMR vaccine and a reported spike in autism diagnoses that was published in the Lancet, the prestigious English medical journal, in 1998. A few years later, however, the Lancet withdrew its support of the study — kinda-sorta like how Tribeca withdrew its support for “Vaxxed” — after Wakefield was pelted with accusations of fraud, junk science and conflicts of interest. In May 2010, the gastroenterologist was stripped of his medical license. None of that blowback has halted Wakefield’s crusade, however, and, not surprisingly, little of it is addressed in “Vaxxed.” The movie devotes a great of time to emotionally affecting testimonies from parents who claim their infants were happy and healthy until they began to display symptoms of autism after receiving the MMR vaccine. (One incontestably thought-provoking issue raised by the documentary: Under current U.S. law, pharmaceutical companies are largely shielded from most lawsuits stemming from side effects of vaccines.) Other lengthy chunks are devoted to questioning the impartiality (and trustworthiness) of the Centers for Disease Control, with suggestions of a dark conspiracy between Big Pharma and the CDC bolstered by secretly recorded conversations between environmental biologist Brian Hooker and CDC “whistleblower” William Thompson. In the end, however, “Vaxxed” comes across as a grab-bag of charts, theories and anecdotal evidence that would never pass muster by the editors of any major scientific journal (like, say, the Lancet), and too often resembles the kind of one-sided, paranoia-stoking agitprop that political activists construct to sanctify true believers and assault infidels. It should be taken with several grains of industrial-strength salt — although, to be fair, it does serve as a kind of one-stop-shopping source for anyone seeking to know just what the anti-vaccination crowd is all fired up about. Film Review: 'Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe' Reviewed online, April 2, 2016. (In WorldFest/Houston Film Festival.) Running time: 91 MIN. Production (Documentary) A Cinema Libre Studio release of an Autism Media Channel/Del Bigtree production. Produced by Del Bigtree, Polly Tommey, Andrew Wakefield, Brian Burrowes. Executive producer, Casey Coates Danson. Co-producers, Lee Nestor-Bigtree, Kelly Gallagher, Rana Joy Glickman. Crew Directed by Andrew Wakefield. Written by Wakefield, Del Bigtree. Camera (color), Brian Burrowes, Wael Shukha, Tanayia Koonce, Imogen Wakefield, Erik Nanstiel, Mark Roethke, Andrew Debosz, Kelly Gallagher, Jenn Sherry Parry; editor, Brian Burrowes; music, Francesco Lupica; sound, Chris Haire, Alexey Mohr; associate producer, Dawna Shuman. With Brian Hooker, Doreen Granpeesheh, Mark Blaxill, Polly Tommey, James M. Sears, Rachel Ross, Brandy Vaughn, Luc Montagnier, Stephanie Seneff, Bill Posey, Andrew Wakefield, Del Bigtree.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 3, 2016 18:59:26 GMT -6
variety.com/2016/film/box-office/controversial-vaccine-documentary-debuts-in-nyc-plots-theatrical-expansion-1201744377/Controversial Vaccine Documentary Debuts in NYC, Plots Theatrical Expansion A week after it was pulled from the Tribeca Film Festival, “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe” debuted at New York City’s Angelika Film Center to an estimated $22,000 in receipts. In two weeks, the controversial documentary will open at the Laemmle in Santa Monica, and possibly one or two other Los Angeles locations. Distributor Cinema Libre Studio hopes to expand the film’s national footprint in the coming months, eventually screening “Vaxxed” in between 250 and 300 theaters before it debuts on home entertainment platforms in July. The film raises questions about the link between vaccinations and autism — a potential connection that has been widely discredited in the scientific and medical communities. It was originally intended to debut in June, but Cinema Libre rushed the film into theaters in order to hit back at what it argues is misrepresentation in the media. In an interview with Variety, Philippe Diaz, chairman of Cinema Libre, said the picture was not “anti-vaccination.” “It would be a bit crazy to say that,” said Diaz. “We know vaccinations save the lives of children.” Instead, he said “Vaxxed” alleges that a former Centers for Disease Control and Prevention employee, William Thompson, covered up research into vaccinations’ impact on autism and should be forced to testify to Congress. “The movie doesn’t take a position on what creates autism or if a vaccine is safe,” said Diaz. “The only thing it is trying to do is to get this man to testify.” The film also argues that vaccinations may be administered to children too early in their development and should potentially be given at a later age, said Diaz. However, critics charge that “Vaxxed” director and co-writer Andrew Wakefield has emboldened the anti-vaccination movement with the publication of discredited research arguing there is a possible connection between a vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella and the appearance of autism. Wakefield’s paper was later retracted by its publisher, the British medical journal The Lancet, and his medical license was revoked over ethical issues. In recent years, the push against childhood vaccinations has led to a rise in preventible diseases such as measles. Reviewers, for their part, appear to take issue with claims that “Vaxxed” is not staking out a position against vaccinations. IndieWire’s Eric Kohn, for instance, wrote, “In a statement leading up to the film’s release, Wakefield’s co-writer Del Bigtree claimed that ‘Vaxxed’ is ‘not an anti-vaccine movie,’ which is kind of like saying ‘Triumph of the Will’ is anti-Hitler.” Despite the reviews, Diaz is pleased by the response from audiences. Wakefield has been appearing at two question and answer sessions a day, and Diaz said there have been a few pointed questioners, but no protests. It’s a debate, the distributor said he encourages. When Tribeca organizers called him to tell him that the film was being pulled, Diaz said he urged the festival to host screenings where Wakefield could face off with members of the medical community who disagreed with his position. “We want people to come into theaters and have a discussion,” said Diaz. The film will also be shown at the Houston Film Festival and the Manhattan Film Festival, and there are discussions to include the picture in other festival lineups, Diaz said. However, Tribeca’s decision still smarts. “I got in heated discussions with the directors of Tribeca and told them that they were sending a message to the entire world that the movie is bad,” he said, adding, “They told us themselves that there was too much pressure from their sponsors.” A spokeswoman for the festival declined to comment. In a statement announcing Tribeca’s decision not to screen the film, founder Robert De Niro, who has an autistic child, said, “My intent in screening this film was to provide an opportunity for conversation around an issue that is deeply personal to me and my family. But after reviewing it over the past few days with the Tribeca Film Festival team and others from the scientific community, we do not believe it contributes to or furthers the discussion I had hoped for.”
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on Apr 28, 2016 22:42:55 GMT -6
variety.com/2016/film/news/callous-disregard-movie-vaxxed-1201762084/ ‘Vaxxed’ Director’s Book ‘Callous Disregard’ in Development as Movie Screenwriter Terry Rossio, best known for “Shrek” and the “Pirates of the Caribbean” franchise, has teamed with Dr. Jocelyn Stamat to acquire the film rights to a book by “Vaxxed” director Andrew Wakefield. Rossio and Stamat will adapt Wakefield’s 2010 book “Callous Disregard: Autism and Vaccines — The Truth Behind a Tragedy” and produce the project through their Chamaeleon Productions banner. As part of the deal, Chamaeleon also secured Wakefield’s life rights. The book details the key events surrounding the 1998 paper in the British medical journal the Lancet, co-authored by Wakefield, that asserted that the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine was linked to autism. Wakefield was accused of professional misconduct and falsifying information in that study, and the Lancet retracted the piece in 2010 and the United Kingdom’s General Medical Council revoked Wakefield’s medical license. “Dr. Wakefield is clearly a polarizing figure, reviled by the general public yet also revered by many,” Rossio said. “The details and drama surrounding his life are even more remarkable than generally known.” Wakefield’s “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe” was accepted and then rejected by the Tribeca Film Festival. The film is currently playing in New York and Los Angeles through Cinema Libre Studio. “Vaxxed” was pulled from the Tribeca lineup on March 26 after festival co-founder Robert De Niro explained that it did not contribute to or further the discussion he had hoped for about issues surrounding autism. Cinema Libre came on board to distribute three days later. “Vaxxed” purports to investigate the claims of a senior scientist at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention who revealed that the CDC had allegedly manipulated and destroyed data on an important study about autism and the MMR vaccine. According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no link between vaccination and autism. The anti-vaccination movement has lowered vaccination rates, which in turn has been linked to a recurrence of vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles and mumps.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on May 5, 2016 20:12:52 GMT -6
deadline.com/2016/05/vaxxed-us-release-expansion-cinema-libre-gaia-china-1201749612/‘Vaxxed’s Cinema Libre Teams With China’s Gaia To Expand U.S. Release, Head To Asia The controversial documentary Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe is getting a booster shot from the Middle Kingdom. Distributor Cinema Libre Studio has partnered with China’s Gaia Studio to significantly expand the U.S. release. The Chinese group also is planning to release the film in Taiwan and Hong Kong and has designs on a Chinese run. They are teaming with Cinema Libre to create a joint venture in the PROC, the new partners say. The doc, which claims that Big Pharma and U.S. health authorities covered up a purported link between the MMR (measles/mumps/rubella) vaccine and an uptick in autism, caused a big stir in March when it was invited to, and then pulled from, the Tribeca Film Festival. The film first had the backing of TFF co-founder Robert De Niro and his wife, who are the parents of a child with autism. De Niro agreed to yank the film in the wake of criticism surrounding the filmmakers, chiefly a doctor whose research had been discredited and whose license to practice had been revoked. The film’s subject matter has provoked angry confrontations between those convinced of a conspiracy to cover up the “truth” about the vaccine’s potential for irreversible damage and those who insist that no such link exists — and that denying children the vaccination puts an enormous population at grave risk. Vaxxed ultimately released on April 1 at New York’s Angelika Film Center and grossed a little more than $59K in three weeks. At the Laemmle Film Center in Santa Monica, it took in more than $20K in its first week. It is currently playing in 20 U.S. theaters. Partnering with Gaia gives Cinema Libre the financial resources it needs to grow the run, with the partners planning a nationwide expansion within the next few weeks. It also will be seeking foreign deals at next week’s Cannes Film Market. Cinema Libre and Gaia also are in discussions to create a joint venture in China to release the company’s library of high-concept documentaries and features. Gaia, which has offices in China and the U.S., is a film and TV distribution, finance and production company which was established in 2007. Its credits are said to include Battle of the Warriors and Rest on Your Shoulder.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on May 5, 2016 22:39:11 GMT -6
variety.com/2016/film/asia/vaxxed-set-for-china-release-1201767828/Controversial Documentary ‘Vaxxed’ Poised For China Release Controversial documentary “Vaxxed” is poised to get a release in China, a territory which has recently undergone a massive public health scandal relating to vaccinations. Cinema Libre Studio has entered into a partnership with China’s Gaia Studio for a significant expansion of the film’s U.S. theatrical release. “Gaia Studio also expects to distribute the film in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan as soon as possible,” Cinema Libre said. No import license, distributor or release date have yet been firmed up for China. The film is currently playing at some 20 theaters in the U.S., an accelerated release which Cinema Libre says was a reaction to being selected and then deselected from playing at the Tribeca Film Festival, and an effort “to dispel misconceptions that the film was anti-vaccine.” Tribeca co-founder Robert De Niro later went on NBC to state his regret for the film being pulled from the festival. He urged the public to “go see the film.” The subtleties of the North American festival scene may be lost on Chinese audiences. But there is plenty of reasons for them to relate to the movie. Chinese authorities arrested or demoted some 350 officials and made over 200 arrests in connection with a vaccine scandal in Shandong Province. A 47-year old woman was revealed to have traded over $100 million vaccines through an unlicensed company which had a network of 300 sub-dealers across the country. While the vaccines were produced by licensed companies, many were at or close to expiry, and many had not been stored or transported under the correct conditions, likely rendering them useless. While the scandal was known to the authorities in early 2015, officials had covered it up until February this year. “This is a topic in the news, and we feel this movie gives a moving account and record of actual events and trends occurring. This is knowledge and information that can help people,” said A.L Yang, chairman and founder of Gaia Studio. The film will also be screened at the Cannes Film Market.
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Post by The Ultimate Nullifier on May 24, 2017 22:14:47 GMT -6
www.indiewire.com/2017/05/vaxxed-anti-vaccine-documentary-cannes-1201830151/‘Vaxxed’: Andrew Wakefield’s Controversial Anti-Vaccine Documentary Set for Secret Cannes Screening Sales company and distributor Cinema Libre is hoping to drum up further foreign sales by showing the embattled documentary as part of the festival's film market. Over a year after being programmed — and ultimately pulled — from the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival, Andrew Wakefield’s controversial anti-vacciation documentary, “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe,” has resurfaced at another prestigious film festival. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film is set for a “secret” screening during this month’s Cannes Film Festival, where sales company and distributor Cinema Libre will screen it on May 25. Cinema Libre has secured distribution deals for the film in various foreign countries, but is bringing the doc to the Cannes market in hopes of selling it to further international territories. “We’ve done secret screenings throughout Europe where we don’t announce the location until the day before because there are organized groups of pro-vaccine folks who will mobilize 10-20 people to call the venue that will threaten the venue or get it to change its mind about screening the film,” Beth Portello, Cinema Libre CFO and VP marketing and publicity, told THR. Cinema Libre released the film in the U.S. in April of 2016, just days after it was removed from the Tribeca Film Festival schedule due to public outcry. Per THR, “Cinema Libre already has secured distribution deals for the film in Italy (Wanted), Germany (Busch Media), Poland (TVN) and China (Gaia Studios). Deals are pending in Japan, Holland, Israel, Syria, Mexico and South Africa.” The film has also played theatrically in Ireland, the U.K., Australia and New Zealand. “The vaccination debate is as intense in Europe as it is in the U.S.,” Portello told THR. “But the idea that there can’t even be a debate is absurd.” Wakefield, the film’s director, is a former UK surgeon and medical researcher. He is best known for a 1998 research paper, later declared fraudulent, that claimed a link between vaccination and autism. After “Vaxxed” was announced as part of the 2016 Tribeca lineup, massive outcry against its content and its embattled director led to the festival pulling it from its schedule. Days later, Cinema Libre picked up the film and rushed it into theaters, where it received mostly poor reviews (including our own Eric Kohn’s), and the film currently sits at a very rotten 33% on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
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