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This article was published 08/09/2020 (998 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new documentary by director Jeff Gibbs is being re-released with a live virtual event on Oct. 28, after being removed from YouTube earlier this year.

Battle for the Planet of the Humans premièred on YouTube on the 50th anniversary of Earth Day and racked up millions of views. But it also attracted the negative attention of certain groups, one of which filed a copyright claim over a short snippet of footage of rare earth mining in China.

Gibbs says the clip was employed under the doctrine of fair use. Although the case was resolved, the copyright claim resulted in the film being removed from YouTube.

“It turns out the person who made the claim was funded by some of the same foundations that we criticize in the film that are associated with hedge funds and billionaires and bankers,” Gibbs says.

“Many of these large foundations, even though sometimes they are well-intentioned, in the end they are trying to keep this machine going that I think is consuming the planet,” he says.

“The machine of capitalism and consumption and economic growth.”

This conflict is a key point in the film — for which documentarian Michael Moore serves as executive producer — and a key factor in the censorship and pushback it has experienced.

“Even if green technology works as advertised, there’s a myth that we can have infinite growth on a finite planet. And we’re hitting the wall with that right now.”

The live event will feature director Gibbs and producer Ozzie Zehner as they share insights about the seedy underbelly of the environmental movement and discuss if humanity can get back on track in time to save itself. The event will feature a screening, a discussion and a Q&A session.

The film has faced continued censorship and criticism of its questioning of sustainability, whether machines can save humanity and if the environmental movement has been corrupted by capitalism. But Gibbs refuses to back down and is eager to share his work and discuss the implications in the upcoming live event.

“We’re not wrong that the planet’s in trouble, but have we made a mistake thinking technology is going to save us?”

The Battle for the Planet of the Humans live event takes place on Oct. 28, at 6:30 p.m. Tickets go on sale today at ticketmaster.ca.

For information about the film, or to rent it for $6.98, visit planetofthehumans.com

frances.koncan@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @franceskoncan

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