Controversial Vaping Documentary Film A BILLION LIVES to Make North American Premiere

The award-winning documentary feature film A Billion Lives, which has been capturing headlines at international film festivals, including grabbing the Supreme Jury Prize and Best Director awards at the 2016 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, will make its North American premiere at the historic Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, WI, on Saturday, August 6, 2016.

Igniting controversy about how anti-smoking forces are attacking the vaping industry, A Billion Lives shows that Big Business entities from around the world are colluding to destroy the e-cigarette trade in its infancy, even as vapor technology is helping millions to safely stop their addiction to cigarettes.

Over 40 million people worldwide are using vapor technology, with many employing it as a means to successfully quit smoking. But, as the film argues, with BILLIONS in profits and taxes at stake, corporate conglomerates and the governments they benefit have created a multi-pronged campaign to poison the global population's attitude against the use of this innovative technology in an attempt to crush the potentially life-saving emergence of a smoke-free, prescription-free alternative. These acts, in essence, are sentencing a billion people to die needlessly from cigarettes in this century by withholding a low cost, successful substitute. A Billion Lives shows how pharmaceutical companies, anti-smoking advocacy groups, tobacco companies, and even our own state and federal governments are to blame for the disinformation, over-regulation, and banning of e-cigarettes worldwide.

The film's Director and Executive Producer, Aaron Biebert, traveled across four continents to discover why a device that can save so many lives is maligned and discredited in so many countries. Throughout this journey, Biebert discovers the hidden facts behind the vaping industry, and exposes the governmental forces that are intent on destroying it.

Also featured are compelling interviews from leading scientists, doctors, technologists and policy MAKERS from major international health organizations, including:

• Dr. Derek Yach - Former Executive Director for the World Health Organization (WHO) and currently Chief Health Officer of the Vitality Institute, an action-oriented global health research organization. Dr. Yach serves on several advisory boards including the Clinton Global Initiative, the World Economic Forum, and the NIH's Fogarty International Centre.
• Dr. Delon Human - Former President of the World Medical Association (WMA) and adviser to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon.
• "The Winston Man" - David Goerlitz, a retired professional model known around the world as "The Winston Man" throughout the 80's, was the first representative of the tobacco industry to not only quit smoking, but to advocate against smoking while employed by a cigarette company.
• Jeff Stier - Senior Fellow at the National Center for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C.
• Clive Bates - UK Director of Counterfactual, a public interest consultancy and advocacy practice, who previously worked in tobacco control and at the United Nations.
• Hon Lik - Long time smoker and technologist, Lik is the inventor of the modern e-cigarette, and successfully used his invention to stop smoking.

"As filmmakers, it's our job to tell the stories that need telling, and give voices to the voiceless, to make our world a better place," said Biebert. "It's not every day that filmmakers get to tell a story that can change the lives of hundreds of millions of people around the world. With A Billion Lives, we have that chance and we're not going to waste it. We're putting everything we have into making this the defining film for an entire generation to help end the grip smoking has on over a billion people."

A Billion Lives is a production of Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based Attention Era Media. Independently funded by the Production Company, the feature film recently premiered to rave reviews at the Doc Edge Festival in Wellington, New Zealand on May 11, its European premiere on June 12 at the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, Poland, and its Australian premiere at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival on July 10. A Billion Lives won the Supreme Jury Prize and Best Director awards at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, received a Remi Award from the Worldfest Houston International Film Festival, and the Dorn Award from the Global Forum on Nicotine. For additional information, visit ABillionLives.com.

View the trailer here. Interview opportunities and artwork available upon request.

To purchase tickets for the North American premiere at the Pabst Theater on Saturday, August 6 in Milwaukee, WI, click here.

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