WHAT: The World Premiere of Oscar nominee Scott Hamilton Kennedy’s revealing documentary on vaccine hesitancy, SHOT IN THE ARM, at The Palm Springs International Film Festival.
Before anyone had heard of COVID-19, filmmaker Scott Hamilton Kennedy (THE GARDEN, FOOD EVOLUTION) began investigating the global measles epidemic. Filming with top public health officials–including Anthony Fauci–as well as rare interviews with anti-vaccine activists who were persuading parents by the millions to refuse vaccines for their children. Then COVID-19 happened. Acting quickly, Kennedy shifted his directorial eye to this once-in-a-century tragedy. Both skeptical and hopeful, SHOT IN THE ARM explores vaccine hesitancy historically and in the context of the current COVID pandemic, and how disinformation and misinformation are at the root of this disease. Can we replace cynicism with healthy curiosity and bridge the political divides that make us sick?
WHO: Attending in person at Palm Springs: Director/Producer/Writer Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Executive Producer Neil DeGrasse Tyson, and film subject and Director of Voices for Vaccines, Karen Ernst.
Produced by Scott Hamilton Kennedy, Mark Monroe, and Mark Steele, the film features: Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, MD; Karen Ernst; Dr. Paul A. Offit, MD; Dr. Peter J. Hotez, MD; Blima Marcus, DNP; and many others. It features interviews with Robert Kennedy, Jr., and numerous voices on both sides of the fiery vaccine debate.