A Toxic Comedy look at vinyl, the world’s second largest selling plastic. With humor, hope and a piece of vinyl siding firmly in hand, Peabody Award-winning filmmaker Judith Helfand and co-director Daniel B. Gold travel from Helfand’s hometown to America’s vinyl manufacturing capital and beyond in search of answers about the nature of polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Her parents’ decision to “re-side” their house with this seemingly benign cure-all for many suburban homes turns into a toxic odyssey with twists and turns that most ordinary homeowners would never dare to take. The result is a humorous but sobering and uniquely personal exploration of the relationship between consumers and industry. Although the film reveals a complex web of alleged corporate conspiracies and the tragic loss of human life from chemical exposure, BLUE VINYL also poses a refreshingly simple question: “Is it possible to make products that never hurt anyone at any point of their life cycle when manufactured, when used, or when disposed of?”
Dir. Judith Helfand and Daniel Gold, 98 min., U.S.A., 2002
Monday 14, 9:00 PM.
Distributor: Molly Ramey at Working Films [email protected] or (910) 342-9000
Contact: www.bluevinyl.org/
www.bluevinyl.org/animation.htm
Using film for earth science education
