Documentary A Billion Lives to Premiere in North America, Challenging Lies About E-Cigarettes (Photo

The documentary film "A Billion Lives" will premiere in North America on Saturday, August 6, 2016, at the historic Pabst Theater in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This award-winning film has been featured as a headline at numerous international film festivals, including winning the Grand Jury Prize and Best Director Award at the 2016 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.

Amid the controversy over how anti-smoking groups attack electronic cigarettes, "A Billion Lives" showcases how large corporate entities from around the world collude to undermine the nascent electronic cigarette industry, even as electronic vapor technology is helping millions safely quit smoking.

Globally, over 40 million people are using electronic cigarettes, with many successfully quitting smoking thanks to them. However, as the film illustrates, driven by billions in profits and tax revenues, corporate groups and governments benefit from a multi-faceted approach to mislead the public, attempting to prevent the emergence of this life-saving non-pharmaceutical smoking alternative. Essentially, these actions push billions of people towards unnecessary deaths caused by tobacco by concealing a low-cost and effective alternative. The film "A Billion Lives" exposes how pharmaceutical companies, anti-smoking advocacy groups, tobacco companies, and even state and federal governments globally spread misinformation, overregulate, and ban electronic cigarettes.

Why is a life-saving product defamed and has such a bad reputation in so many countries? The film's director and executive producer, Aaron Biebert, traveled across four continents to seek the root of this issue. Throughout his journey, Biebert uncovered the truth hidden behind the electronic cigarette industry and revealed the intentions of government forces to destroy the electronic cigarette industry.

Another highlight of the film is the compelling interviews with top scientists, doctors, technical experts, and policymakers from major international health organizations, including former WHO Executive Director and Chief Health Officer of the Vitality Institute Derek Yach, former President of the World Medical Association and advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Dr. Delon Human, retired smoking cessation advocate and model David Gletts, Washington Policy Research Center senior researcher Jeff Steel, Clive Bates, and e-cigarette inventor Han Li.

“As producers, it is our job to tell the truth, document facts, and make the world a better place,” Biebert said. “It’s not every day that we get to tell a story that can change the lives of billions. "A Billion Lives" gives us that opportunity, and we won’t miss it. We’ve incorporated everything we know into the film to help billions of people quit smoking in this era.”