Event
Documentary Screening - "Virulent: The Vaccine War"
Thursday, May 11, 2023 19:00to21:30
Moyse Hall, 853 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal,, QC, H3A 0G5, CA
Price:
FREE, registration required
On May 11th, 2023 the McGill Office for Science and Society (OSS) will host a screening of the documentary, "Virulent: The Vaccine War". Following the screening, Director of the OSS Dr. Joe Schwarcz, will moderate a discussion and Q&A with Laura Davis, producer of the film.
Free, registration required.
About the film
"Virulent: The Vaccine War" examines the history of vaccine hesitancy and denial, and the effect Covid-19 has had on anti-vaccination activists. The film also looks at the ways in which the anti-vaccine movement weaponizes history to target Black Americans and other minority communities.
About Our Panelist
Producer/Interviewer Laura Davis makes impactful documentaries about the history of medicine. Her latest project, Virulent: The Vaccine War, directed by Tjardus Greidanus, examines the history of vaccine hesitancy and the effect Covid-19 has had on anti-vaccination activists. It is her follow-up to the CINE Golden Eagle-winning A Shot to Save the World about the creation of the Salk polio vaccine which featured exclusive interviews with Bill Gates, Jonas Salk's family and patients, and the last surviving members of his laboratory. The film premiered on the Smithsonian Channel on World Polio Day 2013 and was honored by the CDC Foundation. It streamed on Paramount+ throughout 2020.
Her last documentary, Burden of Genius, an exploration of Dr. Thomas Starzl’s pioneering work in organ transplantation, is heading to public television following hundreds of screenings at top transplant centers including Stanford, Columbia, Harvard-Mass General, Johns Hopkins, Cleveland Clinic, UPMC, Duke and the University of Chicago as well as at transplant conferences around the world. It was recently screened for the transplant team at Kyiv's National Specialized Children's Hospital, where staff is now caring for children and adults injured in Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Before turning to documentaries, Laura produced hundreds of marketing featurettes for Sony Pictures Entertainment, Universal Pictures, Paramount, Twentieth Century Fox and Warner Bros. Over two decades, she worked for some of the world’s most respected directors producing over 30 projects for Martin Scorsese, James L. Brooks, Mike Nichols, Cameron Crowe and Michael Mann.
Laura also produced the documentaries Everest: On Location in the Death Zone (Miramax) and The Chef & The Architect (Food Network), the telefilms, Someone Else’s Child (ABC) and Still Holding On: The Legend of Cadillac Jack (CBS), and the features Hellbent (2018) and A New York Heartbeat (2013), which gave Emmy Award-winner Rachel Brosnahan (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel) her first starring role. She got her start as an interviewer on NBC Radio and later for Showtime/The Movie Channel following her graduation from Cornell University.
