ROCKLAND — Two Maine showings of the HBO documentary film Toxic Hot Seat will take place this weekend, March 29, in Portland, and March 30, in Rockland. They are both free and feature the filmmaker, as well as and Hannah Pingree, Former Speaker of the Maine House who costars in the film.

Maine’s leadership in phasing out unnecessary uses of toxic flame retardant chemicals features prominently in the film, which takes an indepth look at the nexus of money, politics and power, following a group of firefighters and mothers, journalists and scientists, politicians and activists as they fight to expose the dangers posed by toxic flame retardants in the furniture in homes and what they describe as a deceptive campaign waged by the chemical industry to stall efforts to eliminate unnecessary exposure to these harmful chemicals.

The Portland premier of the film will be at SPACE Gallery, 538 Congress St, on Saturday, March 29. Doors open at 7 p.m. and the film begins at 7:30 p.m.

On Sunday, March 30, Toxic Hot Seat will be shown at the Strand Theater, 345 Main St in Rockland at 2 p.m.

Admission to each showing is free.

The screenings will both be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Kirby Walker, Mike Belliveau the executive director of the Maine-based public health organization Environmental Health Strategy Center who led the successful campaigns to phase out toxic flame retardants in Maine, flame retardant free furniture designer and owner of Scarborough based Endicott Home Furnishings Ross Endicott, and former Speaker of the Maine House of Representatives Hannah Pingree, who is in the film.

Susan Shaw, president of the Marine Environmental Research Institute, and who is conducting a study of levels of flame retardants in Maine firefighters, will join the Q&A in Portland and clinical research specialist Caroline Knigh,t of Pen Bay Medical Center, will participate in the Rockland Q&A.

More information about the screenings is available at www.preventharm.org or by calling Emily Postman at the Environmental Health Strategy Center at 207-699-5791. A trailer for the film is available at http://www.toxichotseatmovie.com.

The Maine screenings are presented by the Environmental Health Strategy Center and Prevent  Harm with the support of the Pen Bay Healthcare Foundation, Endicott Home Furnishings, the Professional Fire Fighters of Maine, the Marine Environmental Research Institute, the Belfast Co-op, and the Camden International Film Festival.