The biggest news in the lead up to the Tribeca Film Festival’s 15th anniversary hasn’t been the plethora of panels featuring auteurs and actors (including a Tom Hanks-meets-John Oliver talk), or the interactive exhibit that will allow attendees to combine their love of faking orgasms with their love of movies. No, the festival kicked up a lot of fuss this weekend when co-founder Robert De Niro defended the inclusion of Andrew Wakefield’s Vaxxed: From Cover-Up To Catastrophe in the lineup, then bumped it following the outcry from the rational public, which did not include Rob Schneider or Jim Carrey’s butt.
Wakefield, whose research was already discredited as an “elaborate fraud” five years ago, has picked up the MMR/CDC conspiracy thread for Vaxxed, which found its way into the 2016 Tribeca film screenings somehow. The film’s selection was questioned when it was announced, but a Tribeca spokesperson defended the decision in a statement: “Tribeca, as most film festivals, are about dialogue and discussion. Over the years we have presented many films from opposing sides of an issue. We are a forum, not a judge.”
As the parent of a child with autism (a disorder whose link to the MMR vaccine has been debunked) , De Niro himself responded to the criticism, stating that although he hadn’t seen the film nor was he endorsing it, he felt its inclusion could promote intelligent discourse on its subject matter.
“In the 15 years since the Tribeca Film Festival was founded, I have never asked for a film to be screened or gotten involved in the programming. However this is very personal to me and my family and I want there to be a discussion, which is why we will be screening Vaxxed. I am not personally endorsing the film, nor am I anti-vaccination; I am only providing the opportunity for a conversation around the issue.”