The upcoming Tribeca Film Festival has come under heat for its screening of a documentary that promotes the anti-vaccination movement. In a statement, Robert De Niro defended the screening of Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe while also distancing himself as part of the anti-vaccination movement. 
 
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 “Grace [Hightower, De Niro's wife] and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined," De Niro said (via Variety). "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." 
 
 Andrew Wakefield, the doctor-turned-documentarian behind Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe, argues that vaccinations given to infants could lead to autism, a claim that the Centers for Disease Control has long denied. Wakefield's research papers on the subject have been attacked and discredited, and while his bio page on the Tribeca site mentions his work in the field, it doesn't mention that he's been accused of professional misconduct and falsifying information. Wakefield was also stripped of his medical license. 
 
 De Niro's statement has sparked even more controversy as the actor's decision to include the documentary as part of the film festival that he helped found represents only one side of the anti-vaccination debate. Filmmaker Penny Lane, who made the documentary Nuts! about a snake oil salesman and medical fraud in general, penned an open letter to the Tribeca Film Festival asking them to reconsider the Vaxxed screening. 
 
 "While it is true that we documentary filmmakers constantly debate vexing questions about the perceived and real differences between our work and the work of traditional journalism, I assure you that we are not debating whether it is okay to knowingly spread dangerous lies," Lane wrote of Wakefield. "In other words: issues around truth and ethics in documentary can get thorny. But this one should have been easy. The anti-vaccination hoax has been completely discredited by now. This film is not some sort of disinterested investigation into the 'vaccines cause autism' hoax; this film is 'directed by the person who perpetuated the hoax.'" 
 
 As of now, Vaxxed is scheduled to screen April 24th at the film festival. ||||| Mr. De Niro’s statement seemed to suggest that this was the first time he has expressed a preference that a particular film be shown at the festival. 
 
 “Grace and I have a child with autism,” he wrote, referring to his wife, Grace Hightower De Niro, “and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. 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.” 
 
 Within hours his statement, posted on Facebook, generated hundreds of comments. 
 
 The trailer for the film, filled with dramatic music, opens with the words “Are Our Children Safe?” on a black screen with billowing smoke that appears to be coming from a syringe. The trailer includes the suggestion that a “whistle-blower” from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would say that the organization “had committed fraud” and “that they knew that vaccines were actually causing autism.” Mr. Wakefield appears in the trailer saying, “Wow, the C.D.C. had known all along there was this M.M.R. autism risk.” ||||| The Tribeca Film Festival is facing serious backlash for including anti-vaccination documentary “Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe” from doctor-turned-documentarian Andrew Wakefield into its 2016 lineup. 
 
 Wakefield is a fervent believer in the link between vaccination and autism. He has also been the subject of many controversies, including being accused of professional misconduct and falsifying information as early as 1998 in one of his research papers. Wakefield’s bio on the festival’s page for the documentary mentions the research paper and study but not that it was later discredited. 
 
 Many called for a response about the festival’s decision. Robert DeNiro, co-founder of the Tribeca Film Festival, defended the choice to include the film, even though he doesn’t endorse the content. 
 
 “Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined. 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.” 
 
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 His statement spurred more negative reactions on Twitter, many questioning his decision to include such a controversial film if he in fact doesn’t support the anti-vaccination movement. 
 
 Including the film has prompted some to categorized the festival’s decision as “irresponsible” and called out the film for being “dishonest” and “one-sided” in its message. 
 
 According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is no link between vaccination and Autism Spectrum Disorders. 
 
 Bob Wright, co-founder of Autism Speaks, in a statement on the org’s website says “vaccines are very important” and “parents must make the decision whether to vaccinate their children.” 
 
 He adds that, “If parents decide not to vaccinate they must be aware of the consequences in their community and their local schools.” 
 
 The film premieres on April 24 at the Tribeca Film Festival, which will include a conversation with the filmmakers after the screening. ||||| Vaxxed 
 
 Tribeca Film Festival, I love you but you made a very serious mistake. 
 
 On Monday, the widely discredited and dangerous anti-vaccination quack Andrew Wakefield tweeted: “Haven’t posted forever. Huge news tomorrow.” 
 
 Perhaps he hadn’t “posted forever” because the media finally stopped giving him a megaphone. Perhaps once people in America and England began dying of measles, journalists finally realized that the “two sides to every story” approach granted Wakefield was literally killing people. 
 
 Last I heard, Wakefield was headlining Conspira-Sea, a seven-day cruise where passengers learn about crop circles, chemtrails, yogic flying, ESP and astrology. Good, I thought, that’s where he belongs. 
 
 Well, not so fast. It seems the quack is back. Wakefield’s “huge news” is that he is now a documentary film director, and that his new film Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe will premiere at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival this April. 
 
 Your film festival guide suggests that if I’m interested in Vaxxed, I might also be interested in the category of “documentaries.” Well, as a documentary filmmaker who spent eight years making a film about a quack: yes, Tribeca Film Festival, I am very interested in both your choice to screen Vaxxed and in the field of documentary film. 
 
 I have always admired Tribeca’s ambitious and broad documentary programming. I first saw (T)ERROR there, and The Genius of Marian, and Tomorrow We Disappear, and Thank You For Playing, and Give Up Tomorrow, and Let The Fire Burn – and so many other excellent films. And this is what makes your decision all the more pernicious: audiences have come to expect excellence from your documentary programming. 
 
 When The Los Angeles Times contacted you for comment, they received this response: “Tribeca, as most film festivals, is 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.” 
 
 Here is the problem with your statement: it assumes that Vaxxed is just like any other film taking on an unpopular, controversial or provocative subject. It is not. There is a big difference between advocacy and fraud, between point of view and deception. For you to claim there is no difference helps to perpetuate Wakefield’s fraud. 
 
 Also, it is disingenuous for you to claim you are not a “judge.” You are literally judging when you choose a film, from thousands of submissions, to screen under your banner. 
 
 A lot of people, including those who buy tickets to see docs at your festival, believe documentary film has become a new and important form of news. But journalists are expected to tell the truth — or at least not knowingly spread dangerous lies. Your choice to include Vaxxed in your documentary lineup — a lineup including films about abortion, Syrian refugees, solitary confinement, the American electoral system, in-vitro fertilization and drone warfare — suggests that you think documentary filmmakers can’t be held even to the latter standard. This threatens the credibility of not just the other filmmakers in your doc slate, but the field in general. 
 
 So yes, I take this personally. 
 
 While it is true that we documentary filmmakers constantly debate vexing questions about the perceived and real differences between our work and the work of traditional journalism, I assure you that we are not debating whether it is okay to knowingly spread dangerous lies. 
 
 Consider how many lies there are in the first 30 seconds of the Vaxxed trailer. Wakefield’s cinematic disregard of the truth means his film should not be called a documentary any more than Loose Change is. 
 
 In other words: issues around truth and ethics in documentary can get thorny. But this one is easy. This film is not some sort of disinterested investigation into the “vaccines cause autism” hoax; this film is directed by the person who perpetuated the hoax. 
 
 And this hoax isn’t cute, or fun, or thought-provoking. Very possibly, some people will walk away from your festival having been convinced, in part because of your good name and the excellence and integrity of your documentary programming, not to vaccinate their children. And very possibly people will die as a result. 
 
 There’s no shame in having been taken in by quack – the reason I made NUTS! is that I wanted to explore just how easy it is to fall for a quack, especially one cloaked in the authority of a documentary film. 
 
 I believe you were fooled in just this way: taken in by an apparently legitimate “documentary” film, a film which unethically used the tools of my trade toward bad ends. I believe you made a very serious (if human) mistake. But it’s not too late to fix it. You can still apologize for your error and cancel the screening. 
 
 I know that some people will say I’m advocating censorship when I say this. I appreciate that concern. The last thing I would want is for festivals to stop being bold, independent tastemakers afraid of controversy. And I would never suggest banning the film is some global sense (as if that were even possible!). 
 
 But the problem is not that Vaxxed is controversial, or even that it’s deceptive. Honestly, I consider a large number of well-made, popular documentary films fairly deceptive. The problem is that it is dangerous misinformation being legitimized under the banner of your considerable prestige. 
 
 Penny Lane (Our Nixon) is a two-time grantee of the Tribeca Film Institute whose most recent film, NUTS! (concerning an infamous, evil quack who was still considerably funnier and nicer than Andrew Wakefield) recently won a special jury award for editing at Sundance and opens at Film Forum on June 22. 
 
 3/31/16, CORRECTION: An earlier version of this post included an incorrect link to support Ms. Lane’s statement that “people in the America and England began dying of measles.” The link has been updated to reflect her source for this information.
– Robert De Niro says he's not anti-vaccination—he's just in favor of screening an anti-vaccination documentary made by a disgraced medical researcher. The actor is defending his decision to include Vaxxed: From Cover-up to Catastrophe at New York City's Tribeca Film Festival, which he co-founded, Rolling Stone reports. The film is directed and co-written by British anti-vaccination activist Andrew Wakefield, who was stripped of his medical license for ethics violations, reports the New York Times. Wakefield was behind a controversial 1998 study linking vaccines to autism, which was later discredited and retracted by the medical journal that published it. "Grace and I have a child with autism and we believe it is critical that all of the issues surrounding the causes of autism be openly discussed and examined," De Niro said, per Variety. He said that in the 15 years since he founded the festival, he has never been involved in programming, but "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." In an open letter in Filmmaker magazine, documentary maker Penny Lane urged the festival to reconsider its decision to spread "dangerous misinformation."