“I had heard a little ahead of time [about] the stuff that happened at Tribeca and all the rest of it. And I read, with interest, some of the responses that came out.”
That’s Cinema 21 owner Tom Ranieri, discussing what happened at the Tribeca Film Festival with Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe—a film directed by discredited former gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield and boasting the tagline “THE FILM THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO SEE.”
Following public outcry, Tribeca canceled its screening of Vaxxed—but that hasn’t stopped Vaxxed‘s filmmakers, and anti-vaxxer advocacy groups, from making sure the film plays elsewhere. That includes Portland, where it’ll open at Cinema 21 on June 17, with the film’s producers in attendance.
After Tribeca, Vaxxed was met with mixed-to-negative reaction. Variety called it a “slickly produced but scientifically dubious hodgepodge of free-floating paranoia, heart-rending imagery… and anti-Big Pharma conspiracy mongering.” After calling the film “a biased look at a controversial topic,” The Guardian noted, “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.” “There’s a lot of sad piano music and distressed parents in Vaxxed,” reads the review at IndieWire, “but next to nothing in terms of real science.”
I got in touch with Ranieri to see why he decided to book Vaxxed, which claims to examine purported—and widely disproven—links between autism and vaccines.
“I started receiving dozens and dozens of emails, with some of the language cut-and-paste, so I was assuming it was a campaign or effort to get it on the radar of someone in Portland. All of them were requesting that we show it,” Ranieri says. “Soon afterwards, I started receiving one or two that were basically like, ‘I hope you aren’t going to play this.’ Then I even had a couple of people who I know say the same thing: ‘I hope you’re not going to play this movie.'”
“I was curious at that point,” says Ranieri, who has made Cinema 21 one of Portland’s best-respected theaters thanks to decades of reliable booking, usually of arthouse fare. So he requested a copy of Vaxxed to watch himself. After watching the film and doing some online research, he says, “I kind of get the controversy—why people are pretty emotional, pretty hardcore about their perspective on whether [Vaxxed] should or shouldn’t play.”
But Ranieri—who made sure to tell me he has “reservations with some of the stuff in the movie,” that he doesn’t support the anti-vaccination movement, that his kids are vaccinated, and that he “just got a shingles vaccination shot”—believes Vaxxed “isn’t anti-vaccine.” “I feel, having researched some of this stuff,” he says, “it’s probably a good thing to have conversations about it rather than categorically suppressing it.”
“If the claim is that that showing it will do nothing—as one person wrote to me—but energize the ‘ignorant and scared people’ that want to see the movie, I think that goes way too far,” Ranieri says. “I don’t think you can predict, with scientific accuracy, what the benefit of having a conversation will be. I don’t know how much light will be shed [by the film], but as you get into it, there are questions asked.”
Booking Vaxxed could also prove to be a savvy business decision. After all, this is Portland—a city where, despite overwhelming scientific consensus regarding the safety of fluoride, voters have repeatedly rejected it. And it’s Oregon—a state that, despite overwhelming scientific consensus regarding the safety of vaccines, has the highest vaccine exemption rate in America.
“In the movie, they claim there is an epidemic of autism in this country, and I, for one, would like to see what that amounts to,” Ranieri continues, “whether it’s half true, partly true, full of shit, or a matter of how the autism spectrum is defined and reported. But at every level of this, there are questions to ask, which I think are important ones. And I don’t think you do that just by saying, ‘These people are scared are ignorant, and you ought not show the film.’ The ‘ought not’ stuff, I’m not a fan of. I self-censored myself a while ago, and I’m not going to do it again.”
Ranieri still regrets a decision he “agonized” over decades ago, when he decided not to book Chicken Hawk: Men Who Love Boys, a 1994 documentary about NAMBLA. Ranieri says he was pressured against showing the well-regarded film—despite the fact, he says, that “in that case, it was just a really thoughtful exploration of the subject matter.”
“It’s a spectrum,” Ranieri says, of his decision to show Vaxxed. “It’s not ‘If you show it, you’re this, if you don’t show it, you’re that.’ I think it’s more nuanced.”
As for how Vaxxed will go over, Ranieri hopes people’s strong feelings will be offered constructively. “I hope that when the filmmakers show up, people are civil, and ask questions and talk about it,” he says. But he also knows reactions are already divided. “Some people have been very thoughtful and nuanced,” he says of the feedback he’s gotten for booking the film, “but a couple have been pretty insulting.”
As for Ranieri, he feels fine showing the film.
“The questions [the filmmakers are] asking—specifically the action items they request—are all fairly reasonable,” Ranieri says. “But everyone will have their own reaction, I’m sure.”
Vaxxed opens in Portland on Friday, June 17. Watch for the Mercury‘s review on Wednesday, June 15.
Well, if a few kids die, at least we’ll have had a conversation, right?
Well the movie is about fraud, not anti vaccine. People can keep speculating or they can go and see it like this theater owner did and decide what the subject of the movie actually is. BTW the one and only vaccine discussed in the film is the 3 in one MMR. Which proctects you against measles, rubella and mumps yet this year alone hundreds of cases have been reported of this 3 diseases amongst fully vaccinated crowds and the cherry on top is nobody has as of yet died, became permanently disabled or suffered any major health issues or inconvenience bigger than a regular cold. So you don’t have to worry about anyone dropping dead after watching this movie. Not about pertussis, or tetanus or polio so save your iron lung lecturing for those objecting about that, not the case here.
What an eminently reasonable and intellectually curious attitude on the part of Ranieri, the theatre owner. And quite patient in dealing with an interviewer who tries to put him on the defensive while implying the adult public should be denied the opportunity to hear speech.
“Why Is Portland’s Cinema 21 Showing Vaxxed?” The question smears by implication. A better question is why is the Portland Mercury attempting to poison the well in advance of its showing? I’m guessing the June 15 pre-opening review will be a scathing attempt at misdirection, which should increase turnout for the June 17 opening. Methinks the manipulated media doth protest too much.
Spoiler Alert (studiously avoided in this article): Vaxxed features multiple phone recordings of a CDC insider admitting that test results indicating a link between vaccines and autism were intentionally suppressed.
Brace yourself for manufactured astroturf vitriol in this Comments Section.
I am so glad to see this film being played all over Oregon. We need to have this conversation in Oregon. We do not want to end up like California where they removed vaccine exemptions. If people want to vaccinate that should be there choice. If someone does not want to vaccinate that should be there choice. It is not the choice of Oregon’s Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward. Me must protect medical freedom in Oregon! To do that keep an eye out on Senator Elizabeth Steiner Hayward. She is dangerous and needs to be removed from office. She has no respect for freedom and Oregon respects the Constitution and freedom! Thank you Cinema 21 for not censoring this movie and letting the scared people hide the truth.
Cinema 21 is showing this movie because they are a cinema in America, not communist Russia! Because Ranieri obviously believes in free speech and the right of every American to unfettered information and the freedom to evaluate for themselves. The real question needs to be asked of those who do not believe that we have these rights and that you have given yourself the power to censor for us. I am sure you believe you are somehow protecting people from their own stupidity, well until the same argument is turned on you, and then I am sure your self-righteous indignation will be all too apparent.
I think you should do even more….it has so not worked in every single instance and filled the theatres to capacity. So please protest loudly and in every avenue possible because that will fill seats. I want to take this opportunity to thank you ahead of time for promoting censorship and filling seats!
Here is part of the conversation we should have….how did Oregon go from 6 kids with Autism 25 years ago to now over 11,000? And as they are aging into adulthood what will happen and who will pay for it all? How did we go from 1% of our children in special education to now 25 to 30% in our schools? How did we get to 1 in 7 of our children with some type of neuro-developmental disorder. How are we just accepting all this as some New Normal, while childhood rates of diseases, conditions and disabilities skyrocket…insulin dependent diabetes, life-threatening food allergies, exczema, ADD/ADHD, Crohn’s, Celiac, Cancers, Tourettes, and so much more. According to the CDC it is 1 in every 2 children! These are not a week with the Brady Bunch measles, these are life-long, serious, and life-shortening conditions that impact quality of life as well as quantity. Portland Mercury what is it you are really defending because it is certainly not the health and well-being of America’s children because those statistics are abysmal and indefensible.
Funny, when I was a child we ALL had measles, mumps, Rubella, and chicken pox and I never knew a single child growing up with even one of the above current epidemics. Now we give babies 27 vaccines in the first year of life, 49 by age 5, and 70 by age 18, and I dont know a single child without a health problem and many already on prescriptions for life. It is the garbage in – garbage out scenario! Are you really defending the current state of our children’s health and the one universal practice and environmental insult that is unchanged across America, vaccines?
Lol, the Mercury, asking the hard questions. What, are you guys against free speech or something? I mean, sure some ideas may be stupid and deplorable, but everyone has a right to their opinion man! Like, it’s in the constitution or something. If you oppose providing platforms to dangerous ideas, you’re the real fascists (as opposed to the ones at PSU that you refuse to report on!)
Actually, it is a scientific fact that fluoride is a highly toxic cumulative poison. Anyone who doesn’t understand that is simply ignorant. Unlike Erik Henriksen, who is clearly scientifically illiterate, I have a university science education. I have asked many forced-fluoridation fanatics to tell me how much accumulated fluoride in the body they think is safe. So far not a single one of them has been able to answer the question.
http://forcedfluoridationfreedomfighters…
Unless you are a genius specializing in childhood illnesses, I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t keep an open mind, hear both sides and use your own head to decide what is dangerous and what is beneficial to your child’s well being. If you think Big Pharma is in it to keep your children safe you’ve got much to learn. Thank you, Mr Ranieri, for making this film available for those of us who are wise enough to gather all the information and process it with our children’s health front and center in our minds.
I was going to post supporting this film but it looks like the Mercury has perked enough interest with their fascist reporting. I can trust in the people checking this film out for themselves and making their own minds up about it.
Totally awesome response from the owner of the Cinema to a totally biased reporter who still after the conversation insisted on keeping the original title to the article which sets the wrong tone and also lies in the first sentence. Vaxxed was not shown at the Tribeca film festival because of ‘public outcry’ it was not shown because of govt and pharma pressure. Get your facts straight and report the truth for a change.
Everyone should go see Vaxxed no matter what their stance on vaccination is because this film is not about an anti-vaccine rhetoric. It is about criminal action and scientific fraud by the highest levels of government agencies involved in making public health decisions and that is totally unacceptable on many levels. There are millions of children who have been put at risk because of the fraudulent activities at the CDC and several thousands have been denied due process and compensation because of this fraud in vaccine court.
Why is the media and congress silent? Even after Mr Posey presented the evidence to congress and begged them to have a hearing and subpoena Dr Thompson to get to the bottom of the accusations that are leveled against the top CDC scientists. There are serious questions that need to be answered and people need to be held accountable. Why not help with that without writing silly articles that go no where?
C’mon Erik, tell us, who gave you the script? That’s the real story here. And you think the scientific consensus is that fluoride is safe?
Those that can, do.
Those that can’t, blog.
This is well worth seeing.
I loved the quiet conversations it generated in the lobby afterwords.
This documentary will engage your brain in some of the most important issues of our time.
Leave yourself sometime to discuss it with a companion afterward over a coffee.
I thought the main reason there are “so many more cases of autism than 25 years ago” is that it’s far easier to diagnose now than it was back then.
disastronaut is correct – the increase is due to a greater understanding and standardizing of diagnosis criteria. Medicine has advanced a long way, but the brain and related issues/disorders are still not as well understood as general mechanical bodily functions, simply because they are way more complex.
We used to think people were possessed by demons. We probably also just ignored a lot of people who had things like autism, chalking them up to “something’s a little off with that boy.”
The pharma industry is quite obviously not composed of a flock of angels, but basic scientific literacy on the part of all parties needs to be a precursor to any productive and reasonable discussion.
I am a pediatrician, a scientist and a parent. Since you, Mr Ranieri, seem so at ease showing anti-vaccine propaganda created by a disgraced, de-licensed physician who isn’t qualified to care for sea monkeys, I’d like to sincerely ask if you are going to show Holocaust denial films next after showing Vaxxed? Or maybe show some films by flat earth believers or those who think 2 + 2 = 5 or people who deny HIV/AIDS? Honestly, a de-licensed doctor who fled the UK to avoid arrest and because he realized Americans can be easier to scam (if only because there are more of us) produces fraudulent films in the US because that’s all he can do at this point in his worthless career– and somehow you feel some sick need to show his sh*t? Clearly you have no shame, brain or concern for public health.
I have the right to bring back vintage, artisinal diseases and subject the public to those diseases.
My attachment to dumb theories is way more important than your kid’s health. Whooping cough kills children, but that is a small price to pay for my abstract ideas about medical freedom. I am a raging asshole on this subject.
Because Portland is full of entitled white people who think they know more about immunology and epidemiology than 99% of medical professionals the world over. I didn’t think that was really a mystery worthy of an entire article in your rag.
FLOURIDE IS TERRIBLE, SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO BAD DONT PAINT A PRETTY PICTURE OF A NEUROTOXIN SMH!!! ITS OUT HERE MAKING PEOPLE ZOMBIES, SOUNDS LIKE YOUR ONE OF THEM, ITS REJECTED BECAUSE WE THE PEOPLE DO NOT NEED ADDITIONAL TOXINS IN OUR WATER. HERE IS A LINK FROM HARVARD PROVING FLUORIDE REDUCES CHILDRENS IQ SMH http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola…