Following its June 1st premiere at the Angelika Film Center in New York City, where it grossed over $41,000 in its first week on one screen, the feature-length documentary film “Vaxxed” has continued to expand its release with screenings held or scheduled in cities across America including Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, New Orleans, Washington D.C., Seattle, Sacramento, Denver, Atlanta, St. Louis, San Jose, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, Chicago, Cleveland, Indianapolis and Tulsa.

The film opens in Knoxville this Friday, June 24th Regal Downtown West Cinema 8, 1640 Downtown West Blvd. Knoxville.

“Vaxxed” investigates how the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the government agency charged with protecting the health of American citizens, concealed and destroyed data on their 2004 study that showed a link between the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine and autism. The information was revealed by a Senior Scientist at the CDC, William Thompson, who shared the information to Dr. Brian Hooker. This alarming deception has contributed to the skyrocketing increase of autism, potentially the most catastrophic epidemic of our lifetime.

The film was an Official Selection at the Tribeca Film Festival with a world premiere slated for April 24th. After the film was announced by the festival on March 21st, there was an unprecedented backlash by mainstream media that labelled the film “anti-vaccine” even though they had not even seen it. After Robert De Niro posted a public statement supporting the film on Facebook on March 25th, the coordinated backlash was so strong that the festival called executives at Cinema Libre Studio (the film’s distribution company) on Saturday, March 26th, revealing that the festival’s “sponsors’ interests” were a factor in their decision to pull the film, without giving the filmmakers a chance to defend their film against the “anti-vaccine” mislabeling.

Philippe Diaz, Chairman of Cinema Libre Studio, says, “We chose to distribute this film because of the CDC cover-up which could be contributing to a major health crisis. The media storm over the last few weeks shows how the hyper mediatization of all issues works, with the mainstream media regurgitating false information about its director, Dr. Wakefield, for claims which have been rebuked for years. The movie is NOT anti-vaccine and neither is Dr. Wakefield. He advocates for giving the MMR vaccine at 3 years of age or to have it split into three different shots. Tribeca’s censorship of the film has allowed a precedent that shows how film festivals are no longer a space for free speech, but a place run by sponsors and corporate interests. If festivals can act as censors for corporate interests, it's a slap in the face to the First Amendment."

Following the Tribeca ouster, the WorldFest-Houston Film Festival was also forced to drop the film which had been programmed for April 17th after the Mayor threatened to pull the festival’s funding, citing the Tribeca decision (story here). The Village Voice newspaper also cancelled ads and sent out an inaccurate and misleading email retraction following a paid email blast. In recent weeks, other examples of censorship have included:

Huffington Post blocked frequent contributor Lance Simmens after he posted about Vaxxed, re-instating him a few days later after protest; The entertainment trade magazine, The Hollywood Reporter, posted a completely biased and unprecedented “review” of the film by Dr. Paul Offit. The magazine did not reveal Dr. Offit’s financial relationship with Merck, the manufacturer of the MMR vaccine, nor did they allow a rebuttal to be posted by the film’s director; Head of Distribution Richard Castro says, "There have been movies released theatrically in this country that have been far more controversial, but this film is the target of a whole new level of organized suppression."

After playing for three weeks at the Angelika Film Center NYC, the film has continued to successfully roll out with strong box office numbers in Los Angeles (at several Laemmle theatres), San Diego (Angelika Carmel Mountain), Tempe, AZ (Harkins Valley Art), The Regency South Coast Village (Santa Ana), Emagine Novi 18 (Detroit), Landmark Opera Plaza San Francisco, and Landmark California Theatre (Berkeley). Future playdates include: May 13 at the Landmark Midtown Art Cinema in Atlanta and Landmark Tivolu Theatre (St. Louis); May 20th in Philadelphia (Landmark Ritz 5) and Washington D.C. (Angelika Pop-UP at Union Market), and on May 27 in Minneapolis, MN (Landmark Uptown Theatre) with more theatres to follow.

FILM LINKS:
www.vaxxedthemovie.com | @vaxxedthemovie | facebook.com/vaxxedthemovie