Kounen - a passionate advocate for the
vaping industry - is in front of the camera
for quite a lot of the time and, indeed, he
is central to this film’s success.
His passion for the subject comes
through from start to finish and it is clear
that this was a subject very close to
his heart.
He said: “I remember when I was young
thinking why nobody had invented a
cigarette which gave you all the pleasure
of smoking but which did not actually kill
you and vaping is that invention.
“We now have a chance to kill off the
biggest enemy of the population and that
enemy is smoking.
“If I was in government I
would kill cigarettes and
allow vaping to continue
and thrive but I am not so
I made this film instead.”
“This movie gave me the opportunity to
rethink the whole way I look at smoking.
It is so easy as a director to have movie
scenes where people are smoking. It
happens all the time.
“Vape Wave made me question this and
understand the part I played in promoting
smoking because I never questioned this
before and now I do.
“So from now on I will never put another
smoker in a film unless smoking tobacco
is vital for the plot.
“Instead the smoker will become a vaper.
If I make a movie which is set any time
after 2007 I will tell an actor who might
have been smoking that they will be
vaping instead. That way we will help to
normalise vaping which is considerably
less harmful to health than
smoking tobacco.”
Kounen was born in May 1964 in
Utrecht, Netherlands and is best known
for his films 99 francs (2007), Renegade
(2004) and Coco Chanel & Igor
Stravinsky (2009).
He said he has previously wanted people
to like his films but for Vape Wave he
wants something more.
“For Vape Wave I will be truly happy if
people come up to me and tell me that
they saw my movie and quit smoking.
“I am pleased to say that this has already
happened and now I want as many
people to see this film as possible so that
more and more people can quit smoking
for vaping.”
Kounen is critical of how governments
have classified e-cigarettes and e-liquids
as ‘tobacco products’ because he feels
that this can only lead to
needless deaths.
He thinks vaping should be widely
promoted and advertised as a means of
saving lives by encouraging smokers
to quit.
The film website - vapewave.net - even
links to a petition on change.org where
Kounen calls on Facebook CEO Mark
Zuckerberg to allow him to promote the
film on the social media site.
In an open letter to Zuckerberg, the
director writes: “Today, I can’t reach my
audiences because of your tobaccorelated censorship, although [Vape
Wave] is of course NOT
promoting tobacco.
“There is no need to ban any pro-vape
message, if you consider that vaping
has actually been the most successful
solution in history to quit smoking!
“Many smokers’ lives can be saved if
they get the right information…but all
our attempts to create campaigns were
rejected because of your policies.”
Kounen said this was the most difficult
film project he has ever worked on but
also one of the most rewarding.
He added: “I learned so much about
vaping from making this film. I
particularly love how everyone in the
vaping community is so passionate about
this industry.”
For more information check out
Vapewave.net.
VAPOUROUND MAGAZINE ISSUE 08 57