Utility companies are replacing electricity, gas and water meters worldwide with new generation “smart” meters at an unprecedented rate. Take Back Your Power investigates the benefits and risks of this ubiquitous “smart” grid program, with insight from insiders, expert researchers, politicians, doctors, and concerned communities. Transparency advocate Josh del Sol takes us on a journey of revelation and discovery, as he questions corporations’ right to tap our private information and erode our rights in the name of “green”. What you discover will surprise you, unsettle you, and inspire you to challenge the status quo.
Josh del Sol and his documentary, Take Back Your Power, have been named this year’s winner of the Indie Fest Annual Humanitarian Award.
Take Back Your Power Wins Indie Fest Annual Humanitarian Award
Take Back Your Power follows filmmaker del Sol as he investigates the use of so-named “smart” meter technology, being deployed by utilities and governments to harvest data from within private homes and introduce new pricing schemes. With compelling insight from whistleblowers, government agents, lawyers, environmentalists and doctors, the documentary “exposes corporate corruption and the erosion of human rights in the name of ‘going green’.”
The Indie Fest is a top-tier international awards competition designed to recognize independent creators of fresh, standout films, television programs, compelling documentaries and new media. One film is selected each year for the Humanitarian Award based on its dedication to social justice, humanitarian causes, or environmental issues.
Director and producer del Sol spoke of the award helping to expand the reach of the controversial issue. “The subject matter affects everyone, and the conversation deserves to be squarely in the mainstream,” said del Sol. “Should individual rights take a back seat to the collective? Should energy be an unaffordable privilege, instead of a basic affordable right? And how can corrupt corporatized government systems be held accountable? These are some of the most profound questions of our time.”
About this year’s winner, Indie Fest Coordinator Thomas Baker, PhD stated, “Take Back Your Power takes on the daunting yet important task of educating people worldwide about the surveillance, hacking, health, home safety, and consumer cost concerns linked to so-called ‘smart’ utility meters. It was selected out of hundreds of films for our Annual Humanitarian award because it delves into the heart of what is possibly the main problem in our world today: corporations taking over without conscience, and causing extreme levels of harm in the process.”
This is the second major independent award for the boat-rocking film, which was named AwareGuide Transformational Film of the Year in February. The updated 2nd edition of Take Back Your Power will premiere at the Berkeshire International Film Festival, May 31-June 1 (www.biffma.org).
