Posted on Vaping360 - Author: Jim McDonal - Translator: The Vape Club
A Billion Lives will be released in the US on August 6.
With just a few days left to finalize preparations for A Billion Lives’ U.S. release, we thought it would be a good time to catch up with director Aaron Biebert and catch up. He’s been busy lately, having just returned from Australia, where the film and Biebert won the awards for “best film” and “best director” at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival. A Billion Lives will soon have its world premiere in Warsaw, Poland.
“The most striking thing about A Billion Lives is the sheer number of people who oppose the revolutionary technology of e-cigarettes ,” wrote reviewer Fergus Mason. “There are many people, from community activists to government budgets, who will suffer if the e-cigarette market continues to grow. Biebert uses his sharp eyes to point out the harshness of those who oppose e-cigarettes. What's more, his judgmental gaze even turns to vapers when necessary, pointing out that if vapers continue to deliberately smoke in public, they will tarnish their own image in the eyes of the community. A Billion Lives is the most expensive film about vaping , but it is more than just about vaping.
A Live Chat with Aaron Biebert
Aaron Biebert - Director of the movie A Billion Lives
Can a movie change the debate about e-cigarettes in the community?
Vaping360: You must have known about e-cigarettes and vaping before you started making this film. How did you first learn about the public and government issues with vaping? And why was this important to you?
Aaron Biebert: After a colleague of mine passed away from lung cancer, I began researching smoking addiction, quitting, and quitting strategies. I admit that I thought e-cigarettes were just a way to smoke indoors. Years later, friends started teaching me more about the topic. They were like critics, talking about the huge market for e-cigarettes, and the interest of governments in making this a successful alternative to cigarettes. When I learned that billions of people would die this decade from smoking, I knew immediately that this was something that needed to be studied more deeply. And telling this story to the public was the ultimate goal of A Billion Lives.
Which conversation while researching for the film surprised you the most?
My biggest shock was when the former Secretary General of the World Medical Association told me that most doctors think nicotine causes cancer when it was proven not to cause cancer many years ago. They are the people who have a voice in the community. They think e-cigarettes are bad because of nicotine, so they advise others to stay away from this new technology.
Has anyone ever refused to meet you privately?
Most of the big pharmaceutical companies, the American Cancer Society, the American Lung Association, the American Heart Association, California Senator Mark Leno, the FDA, the CDC, the Campaign for Tobacco-Free Kids. This is disappointing and shows that they don’t have enough evidence to back up their positions. Those who have nothing to hide are happy to play along.
What impact do you see A Billion Lives having on the public debate about vaping?
We’ve been making an impact for a year now. Major media outlets have featured our film on the issue and we’re continuing to do interviews to get the facts out on TV and in the press. And the public doesn’t want to hear vapers praising vaping, they want doctors, scientists and health organizations talking about it. And that’s what we want to do.
Do you have any potential development plans?
The film has received a lot of attention and enthusiastic support, but the development plans also depend on whether the screening is favorable or not. We want to hold an event that attracts attention, it depends a lot on the impression we leave with the media. That is why important people in the electronic cigarette market can take some time to watch and support.
“Many vapers still don't know about A Billion Lives”
Are you worried that vapers are expecting too much from A Billion Lives? Like do they believe it will make a big difference in public opinion? Do you think they're putting too much hope in this movie?
I was worried about that. But after seeing the reaction in New Zealand, I felt much more confident. Their government came out after the screening and announced on TV that they were rethinking their ban. Not long after, they cut funding for some anti-smoking organizations that didn't use this successful technology. I don't think vapers could get our message across. We provided a multi-dimensional, award-winning piece of information to tell the truth, and most of them didn't even know the film existed.
Many vapers have understood the value of A Billion Lives. Are you worried about your association with vapers? For example, will opponents of vaping use this as an excuse to dismiss the value of the film?
When we were looking for material, the first people we went to were scientists and doctors. That’s what the public cares about, they want to hear what the experts have to say. We met with two of the world’s leading doctors, one is the former secretary general of the World Medical Association, and the other is the former director of the World Health Organization. What they said was very credible. Yes, we have a lot of vapers, but we also have doctors, scientists, and the public who support us. Most of the people who came to the screening were not vapers.
Has the attention from the vaping community been good for A Billion Lives in finding funding? Have there been any disappointments?
Absolutely. The vaping community is very supportive, and that fits in with the message of the film. But most vapers still don't know much about us, so there's still a lot of work to be done.
There was also some frustration with some groups of people not being interested in our film because it wasn't free on Youtube. That's a very strange response to a film that could help a lot of people. We need to release and promote an issue, it's not going to be a free video on Youtube at first.
See you in Milwaukee!
The North American premiere will be in Milwaukee, which is also your hometown. What should we know about Milwaukee?
Milwaukee is an amazing city. Every year we have the biggest music festival in the world, Harley Davidson is here, it has the biggest chain stores, restaurants in the world. It really is the cultural capital of the West. We had the opportunity to do it in big cities like New York and Los Angeles, but we wanted to bring it home first and thank the crew and the people in this city for believing in it. Plus, Chicago is right around the corner. We have about 15 million people within 150 miles.
Does being held in the middle of the country rather than the outskirts make it harder to reach the media?
We thought that being in the inner part of the country would help us avoid people who want to block films like this, and it would also allow us to make an award-winning film on a budget. We didn’t have to worry about connections. When a production company does its job, the word will spread. With the awards we’ve won and the big screening event we’ve prepared, there will definitely be a lot of attention. The location won’t be an issue anymore.
How can Vapers help get A Billion Lives known and make a difference?
We need people in the vape community to talk about our film on Youtube, on forums and to their contacts. It sucks that I have to go out and hand out flyers to vape shops and they have no idea there is an event in their area. We don’t have the budget to get the word out to them without help.
