BLUE VINYL at the Red Vic

After recently being screened for Bay Area city officials in support of groundbreaking initiatives towards creating a PVC-free procurement policy for the city, (as well as winning the ‘Environmental Messenger Of the Year Award)’, the engaging documentary BLUE VINYL comes to San Francisco for a 3 day run at the Red Vic Movie House August 3-5. 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. The feature-length documentary, also won the cinematography award in the documentary competition at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. What makes BLUE VINYL unique is the balance of humor and horror, facts and anecdotes, and the face off between cynicism and hope. Helfand’s character—and the overall attitude of the film—never shies away from having a point of view. 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?" With this question in mind, MY HOUSE IS YOUR HOUSE was created, a consumer organizing and education web campaign designed for consumers who watch BLUE VINYL and ask "what now?" The campaign and site are co-directed and coordinated by Working Films, a nationally recognized activist-driven link between high quality documentary filmmaking and serious progressive organizing. Recently the city of San Francisco committed to eliminate its purchases of vinyl, also known as PVC. The evidence is clear that the production, use, and disposal of vinyl materials threaten human health with dioxin and other carcinogenic and hormone damaging chemicals. For this reason, the City of San Francisco is switching to safer materials and stopping its purchase of vinyl products. For more info visit : http://www.bluevinyl.org/