Judith Helfand in Person

Activist filmmaker Judith Helfand, who explored the devastating effects of DES on her own body in A Healthy Baby Girl, is not one to look the other way when a potential toxin gets too close to home. So when her parents affix vinyl siding to their suburban Long Island abode, she gets suspicious. Armed with a big blue slab from the home improvement project, Helfand marches straight to the centers of vinyl production to get the skinny on the seemingly harmless plastics used to make not only cheap, durable siding but also flooring, toys, credit cards, IV bags-you name it. Taking a personal, comedic approach, directors Helfand and Gold brilliantly link unlikely stories and characters across continents, race, and class to uncover the impact of vinyl manufacturing and disposal on the atmosphere, the food chain, and humans. You'll never look at plastic the same way again.