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“Scott’s brilliant documentary FOOD EVOLUTION confirmed his special talent for communicating sound science in a compelling fashion. And now with SHOT IN THE ARM, this timely project will save lives in the United States and around the world.”
Kathleen Hall Jamieson, PhD – University of Pennsylvania’s Annenberg School for Communication
FILMMAKERS
DIRECTOR / PRODUCER / WRITER: SCOTT HAMILTON KENNEDY
Academy Award® nominee Scott Hamilton Kennedy is a writer, director, producer, cameraman, and editor. He has worked on everything from documentary and scripted film with legends like Roger Corman, directed music videos like Jimmy Cliff’s international hit “I Can See Clearly Now,” to commercials, motion capture animation, scripted and reality television. His documentary work includes Oscar Nominated The Garden, which tells the story of the complicated struggle over the nation’s largest community garden; Independent Spirit Award Nominee OT: our town—about the first play in 25 years at Dominguez High School in Compton; and the critically acclaimed Fame High, which follows four students through a year at one of the most respected and competitive performing arts high schools in the country. Scott recently launched Time Capsule Movies, a production company that personally curates documentaries that capture special moments in your life to be shared for generations to come.
Scott’s previous documentary, narrated by the esteemed astrophysicist and science communicator Neil deGrasse Tyson, is FOOD EVOLUTION, which, through resetting the GMO controversy, highlights the importance of using the scientific method to help everyone – from parents to politicians – make better decisions. FOOD EVOLUTION was both one of the most controversial and well-received documentaries of 2017, garnering a rare 100% on Rotten Tomatoes, where the LA Times wrote: “Calm, careful, potentially revolutionary, FOOD EVOLUTION is an iconoclastic documentary on a hot-button topic,” and the NY Times: “FOOD EVOLUTION posits an inconvenient truth for organic boosters to swallow: In a world desperate for safe, sustainable food, GMOs may well be a force for good.” It has been screened on Capitol Hill, the National Academy of Sciences, the European Parliament, the FAO, and many more.
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: NEIL DEGRASSE TYSON
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an Astrophysicist with the American Museum of Natural History, where he also serves as director of its world renowned Hayden Planetarium. He served on two commissions under George W. Bush in the service of NASA and Aerospace, and is the recipient of the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. In addition to dozens of professional publications, Dr. Tyson has written, and continues to write for the public. His latest book is Starry Messenger: Cosmic Perspectives on Civilization. He also served as host of PBS’s NOVA ScienceNOW and the popular radio show and podcast StarTalk. Tyson also served as Host & Narrator for Cosmos: A SpaceTime Odyssey running thirteen episodes in Primetime on the FOX network, and appeared in 181 countries in 45 languages around the world on the National Geographic Channels. The program won four Emmy Awards, a Peabody Award, two Critics Choice awards, as well as a dozen other industry recognitions. He is the recipient of twenty honorary doctorate awards, and was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015. Neil was also narrator and story consultant on Scott’s previous film FOOD EVOLUTION.
PRODUCER: MARK MONROE
Mark Monroe is an award-winning documentary writer and filmmaker, and co-founder of Diamond Docs. A journalism graduate from the University of Oklahoma, Mark began his career as a news writer for CNN. His theatrical credits include: “Icarus” (Netflix, 2017; Winner, Best Documentary 2018 Academy Awards); “Hell On Earth: The Fall of Syria and the Rise of Isis (National Geographic, 2017); “Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos” (WGA nomination “best documentary script,” 2017); “The Beatles: Eight Days a Week – The Touring Years” (Hulu, 2016, Best Music Film, Grammy Awards 2017); “Before the Flood” (Toronto 2016,); “Racing Extinction” (Sundance 2015, Discovery); “The Cove” (winner, best documentary 2010 Academy Awards & best documentary script, WGA 2010).
FEATURING
LYNETTE MARIE BARRON
Lynette Marie Barron describes herself a becoming “an advocate and activist for Medical Health Freedom’ after believing that two of her daughters “suffered from vaccine injuries.” She is also deeply religious, kind, respectful, and open hearted which has led her to have something that both sides need more of if they hope to get anywhere: empathy and humility.
CATHERINE BOREK
Scott’s wife, Catherine Borek, has been a public high school teacher in Compton, California, for over a quarter century. But the pandemic was her first time teaching remotely. Catherine was also just voted one of five “Teachers of the Year” for the State of California for 2023.
DEL BIGTREE
Del Bigtree is an American television and film producer and CEO of the anti-vaccination group Informed Consent Action Network. He produced the film VAXXED: FROM CONSPIRACY TO CATASTROPHE, based on the discredited opinions of Andrew Wakefield which alleges an unsubstantiated connection between vaccines and autism.
KAREN ERNST
Ms. Ernst is the Director of Voices for Vaccines. She is a nationally-recognized expert in vaccine confidence with a decade’s experience in grassroots organizing around the issue. Much of her work involves creating alliances between families and partner organizations in order to increase vaccine uptake and reimagine advocacy work.
DR. ANTHONY S. FAUCI, MD
Former Chief Medical Advisor to the President of the United States and Director of NIAID since 1984. Dr. Fauci has advised seven Presidents on domestic and global health issues, and on initiatives to bolster medical and public health preparedness against emerging infectious disease threats.
DR. PETER J. HOTEZ, MD
Scientist, researcher, author and science explainer, Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Hotez is internationally-recognized in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development. He leads a team and product development partnership at Texas Children’s CVD for developing new vaccines for diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, while championing access to vaccines globally and in the United States.
As the father of an adult daughter with autism, Dr. Hotez’s personal life gives him a special platform as a vaccine champion against the movement to falsely link vaccines with autism and led to the title of his 2018 book, Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism.
EDEN MARIE KENNEDY
Eden is Scott and Catherine’s younger daughter, and she went from 10 and her last semester in elementary school to 13 and her last year in middle school between 2020 and 2022.
TESSA LEA KENNEDY
Tessa is Scott and Catherine’s older daughter, and she went from 13 and her last semester in middle school to 16 and a junior in high school between 2020 and 2022.
ROBERT KENNEDY JR.
RFK Jr. is the son of U.S. senator Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of President John F. Kennedy. He is an environmental lawyer and author. While he has earned respect for some of his environmental work, in the past two decades he has become the founder and chairman of Children’s Health Defense, known for promoting unfounded anti-vaccine propaganda and conspiracy theories. In April 2023 he filed paperwork to run for president as a Democrat in 2024.
BLIMA MARCUS, DNP
Blima Marcus is an ultra-Orthodox nurse practitioner with a BSN from New York University and a Doctorate in Nursing Practice from Hunter College School of Nursing, where she is currently a professor of nursing for doctoral students.
She is a highly respected expert and advocate for public health and monitoring data in the frum Jewish community, which often has particular barriers to preventative health care, such as genetic testing for cancer, mammography, and vaccination. Ms Marcus became involved in vaccination outreach and education during the 2018-2019 measles outbreak in New York City, and developed a nurse-led organization of nurses, physicians, EMT’s and laypeople who are dedicated to undoing harmful misinformation which results in lower vaccination rates and increased disease in the Orthodox community. Her work received notable interest and has been featured in the NYT, WSJ, WaPo, and New Yorker, for its grassroots, direct-to-parent communication and outreach methods.
DR. PAUL A. OFFIT, MD
Paul A. Offit, MD, is Director of the Vaccine Education Center and professor of pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He is the Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Offit is an internationally recognized expert in the fields of virology and immunology, recognized as the co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine, RotaTeq and was a member of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He is a member of the Food and Drug Administration Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, and a founding advisory board member of the Autism Science Foundation and the Foundation for Vaccine Research, a member of the Institute of Medicine and co-editor of the foremost vaccine text, Vaccines.
PEPPER THE DOG
Pepper is the Borek-Kennedy family dog, a golden retriever and border collie mix, and we are pretty sure she saw lockdown with family as a net benefit to her world.
ANDREW WAKEFIELD
Andrew Wakefield is a British anti-vaccine activist, former physician, and discredited academic who was struck from the medical register for his involvement in The Lancet MMR autism fraud, a 1998 study that falsely claimed a link between the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine and autism. More recently, he has become an anti-vaccine and science filmmaker including VAXXED: FROM CONSPIRACY TO CATASTROPHE.
BLACK VALLEY FILMS
Black Valley Films is the production company behind the Academy Award Nominated film, The Garden, Hulu’s Food Evolution, Showtime’s Fame High, Spirit Award Nominee OT: our town, and now SHOT IN THE ARM.
