Controversial anti-vaccine documentary coming to Glenwood Arts

The anti-vaccination documentary “Vaxxed” was set to be part of this spring’s Tribeca Film Festival in New York. But then the festival and one of the film’s defenders, actor Robert De Niro, came under fire and pulled the film.

Now Kansas City area audiences will have a chance to see the controversial film for themselves. The Glenwood Arts, at 95th and Mission in Overland Park, is planning to show “Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe” for one week, beginning June 10. In addition, director Andrew Wakefield, producer Polly Tommey and Sheila Ealey, one of the people profiled in the film, will attend screenings at 5:10 and 8:15 p.m. June 10 and 11.

Wakefield is the British gastroenterologist who claimed to link autism to the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella. (De Niro has an autistic child.) Since then, his research has been called “an elaborate fraud,” and Wakefield’s medical license was revoked.

But Wakefield contends that the issue is part of a cover-up by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control. Several top medical journals have found no link between vaccines and autism.

For more information about the Glenwood screenings, see fineartsgroup.com.

This story was originally published June 1, 2016 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Controversial anti-vaccine documentary coming to Glenwood Arts."