One woman’s quest to discover the environmental consequences of her parents’ blue vinyl siding led her to southern Louisiana, to Venice, and eventually to the Sundance Film Festival.

Now, her travelogue, an award-winning film, is coming to Orono. “Blue Vinyl” will be shown at 7 p.m. Thursday, June 19, in Corbett Hall at the University of Maine at Orono.

The film follows the good-natured director as she travels the world, a piece of baby-blue vinyl siding decorated with Mardi Gras beads in her hand – all to convince her parents that the newly installed plastic shell of their snug Long Island home was a mistake.

Judith Helfand calls her film a “toxic comedy,” an apt description for this biography of the ubiquitous plastic known as PVC.

Poly-vinyl-chloride is everywhere in American society – credit cards, shower curtains, plumbing pipes, Tupperware, shoes, cell phones and the computer keyboard that I’m using to type this story.

PVC is harmless in all these forms, but PVC emissions from chemical plants are another matter, according to Helfand.

“Blue Vinyl” will be shown at 7 p.m., Thursday, June 19 in Corbett Hall at the University of Maine at Orono. A reception will precede the showing at 6:30 p.m. The film is free, but donations will be accepted.