[teacozy]

I am sure you guys have heard that Andrew Wakefield has a new documentary coming out about the "CDC Whistleblower" manufactroversy called Vaxxed and that it was going to be screened at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival. Well, it got a ton of criticism and has now been pulled.

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/robert-de-niro-pulls-controversial-878499

Andrew Wakefield's Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe has been officially pulled from this year's Tribeca Film Festival lineup after criticism from filmmakers. The news comes just a day after Robert De Niro defended his choice to include the anti-vaccination documentary in the festival's schedule.

“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," De Niro said in a statement sent to THR. "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."

"The Festival doesn't seek to avoid or shy away from controversy. 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.”

I for one am glad it got pulled. It gives Wakefield and the whole "CDC whistleblower" thing credibility it does not deserve. Do you guys agree with the decision to pull it? Or do you think it should have remained in the line up?

 

[Dear_Rosemary]

I agree with you and to be honest if I were a non-vaxxer I think I would feel the same. Wakefield is not a good guy to have in your corner.

 

[teacozy]

Well, not surprisingly, our friend Andy is not happy:

To our dismay, we learned today about the Tribeca Film Festival's decision to reverse the official selection of Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe.

Robert De Niro's original defense of the film happened Friday after a one-hour conversation between De Niro and and Bill Posey, the congressman who has interacted directly and at length with the CDC Whistleblower (William Thompson) and whose team has scrutinized the documents that prove fraud at the CDC.

It is our understanding that persons from an organization affiliated with the festival have made unspecified allegations against the film - claims that we were given no opportunity to challenge or redress. We were denied due process.

We have just witnessed yet another example of the power of corporate interests censoring free speech, art, and truth.

Tribeca's action will not succeed in denying the world access to the truth behind the film Vaxxed.

We are grateful to the many thousands of people who have already mobilized including doctors, scientists, educators and the autistic community.

We will be pressing forward and sharing our plans in the very near future.

Onward!

- Andrew Wakefield (Director) and Del Bigtree (Producer)

http://vaxxedthemovie.com/

He should be embarrassed by that statement, honestly. The Tribeca Film Festival is not obligated to show any movie they don't want to. This is not an issue where "due process" or "freedom of speech" rights come into play. How he ever managed to get through med school is beyond me...

 

[Dakotacakes]

I am not a fan of Andrew Wakefield or the manufacutorversy that is #CDCwhisteblower . But I think that a film festival is the place for it and I don't think it should have been pulled. Film is about pushing the envelope and I was fine with any conspiracy theory film being showcased. I think the issue should have been how well done the film was not the content being asinine.

I think a film festival is a fine place for the nonsense that is Andrew wakefield and hooker's conspiracy about the William Thompson. That is where it belongs (that and the conspiracy cruise), not congress like Posey tried to do, and not a science convention.

 

[sciencemum]

I'm not sure it's a good thing either. It seems to give more ammo to the claims of suppression of information. My understanding was the screening was to be followed by a panel discussion. I'm confident the real science would show the gaping holes in Wakefields ideas, so this could have been a good thing for debunking.

It's a film festival and a documentary. I don't hold them to the same burden of scientific evidence as peer reviewed publications, but they don't serve the same purpose either.

 

[mamabear0314]

I don't have strong feelings one way or another honestly. People can still see it if they want.

 

[reader49]

I don't blame DeNiro for not wanting to endorse Wakefield (asking that a film be includes does seem like an endorsement), but I really wish he had done his research before suggesting the film because certain factions seem to think there is more to this than hindsight.

 

[reader49]

http://vaxxedthemovie.com

It is our understanding that persons from an organization affiliated with the festival have made unspecified allegations against the film - claims that we were given no opportunity to challenge or redress. We were denied due process.

Clearly Wakefield does not understand the concept of due process.

 

[teacozy]

There are certainly pros and cons, but in my opinion, the pros outweigh the cons. The Tribeca Film Festival is very prestigious and well respected. Having it air there (along with giving it the "Official Selection" label) would give the movie prestige and credibility it doesn't deserve. It would mean the documentary was more likely to get shown in real theatres, and people would probably take it more seriously than if it was screened in a conference like Autism One. The panel discussion that is now not going to take place is a con, but I doubt that would have received much press outside of some pro-vaccine blog circles, anyway. The news articles discussing the removal of the film all contain the quote that it was removed because of some pretty serious concerns over claims made in the documentary - which is again a good thing in my opinion.

 

[sciencemum]

Good point that the stated reasons for not showing it do send a good message.

 

[teacozy]

This was an interesting interview from Penny Lane about the whole issue http://nofilmschool.com/2016/03/exc...lm-festival-robert-de-niro-vaxxed-documentary

They asked: What do you think about Robert De Niro's decision to pull the documentary from Tribeca's lineup?

I think it was a great decision. It's unfortunate, because, of course, pulling the film comes with its own set of problems. People are going to be concerned about censorship. There's some press today that suggests today that some people do think the choice to pull the film was the wrong choice. I think that's a legitimate point of view; it's not the point of view that I share, obviously, because I spent a lot of time thinking very hard about this before I personally said that I thought [Tribeca] should pull it. I thought about the various choices that were left for Tribeca after they made the bad choice to put the film in the festival in the first place, and I think that pulling it was the better choice of the bad choices.

This is a prestigious film festival that decided to give [Wakefield] the stamp of approval — that he's a legitimate documentary filmmaker with an important point of view—and they're pulling it. They're like, "We made a mistake, and now we're reversing it."

That was the original source of my dismay: the idea that [Wakefield] was going to get this credential, this stamp of respectability. [I wasn't angry about the fact that] he made the film and that someone was showing it. I'm not a fascist. I'm not going to try to prevent people from speaking. I wasn't saying the film shouldn't be seen [at all]. I was saying the film shouldn't be seen in the context of a film festival that has traditionally had integrity and excellence in its documentary programming, which suggests to the audience that that's what this film is — that it has integrity and that it's honest. That's really bad.

I'm glad they pulled it, despite the fact that I understand people's concerns about what kind of a precedent it might set.

 

[sciencemum]

This is the story which keeps going. My favourite online news source has no less than 5 articles on it in the last week!

Here's the latest from them (discussing the response to the removal of the film from the festival).

http://gu.com/p/4tvnd?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

 

[teacozy]

"Andrew Wakefield's Film Fizzles" http://www.forbes.com/sites/emilywillingham/2016/04/03/andrew-wakefields-film-fizzles/#2a1b05313d2e

Most of the reviews don't seem to be too flattering. From that link, one reviewer, Hoffman, writes:

At no point does the movie address or deflect the elephant in the room: that the British gastroenterologist and researcher (Wakefield) has been struck off as a licensed doctor. … Waiting for Wakefield to explain this is something like watching Jaws but never getting that first frontal view of the shark.

"...there’s something inherently fishy about a movie that claims our facts are drawn from an inefficient data set which then turns around and uses the same methodology."

The forbes article then adds:

What Hoffman references there is the movie’s pin: The allegation that the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) deliberately concealed data showing that MMR specifically increases autism risk in African American boys. The primary point to make about that is that these data were, are, and remain available to anyone who wants to analyze them. Indeed, “Vaxxed” includes someone who did just that, Brian Hooker, an engineer whose flawed effort was published and then retracted.

I find it really hard to believe that there is anything nefarious in the data or "whistleblower documents" (that have now been open for anyone to look at for months now) since it doesn't look like a single non-vaccine website or advocate has been able to find it. It's been way too long at this point. If there was something there, we would have seen it by now.

 

[Administrator]

I have removed a few posts and related responses.

Although some crossover between support groups will happen naturally, in most cases a cross over from I’m Not Vaccinating to Vaccinating on Schedule is too large of a gap to be acceptable.

Vaccinating on Schedule – This is a support-only forum for those who are vaccinating on schedule. Members who are not vaccinating or who are vaccinating on a selective or delayed schedule should not post here to debate or argue accuracy or opinion of things posted. However, this forum will uphold Mothering’s advocacy and support the right of all parents to make an informed decision regarding vaccinations and will not host posts that advocate mandatory vaccination.