New HBO Documentary TOXIC HOT SEAT to Debut 11/25

HBO Documentary Films presents a weekly series this fall, debuting provocative new specials every Monday from October 7 through December 9. TOXIC HOT SEAT takes an in-depth look at a nexus of money, politics and power - and a courageous group of firefighters, mothers, journalists, scientists, politicians and activists as they fight to expose what they assert is a shadowy campaign of Deception that has left a toxic legacy in America's homes and bodies for nearly 40 years. This searing exposé debuts MONDAY, NOV. 25 (9:00-10:30 p.m. ET/PT), exclusively on HBO.

ABOUT TOXIC HOT SEAT
Set against the backdrop of the award-winning 2012 Chicago Tribune investigative series "Playing with Fire," TOXIC HOT SEAT tells an intricate story, detailing how chemical companies that produce flame retardants spend millions of dollars on lobbyists, publicists and influencers, and how Big Tobacco had a hand in convincing fire-safety officials to back a standard that, in effect, requires all furniture to be filled with toxic flame retardants.

TOXIC HOT SEAT shows how a handful of large chemical companies ended up being accused of obscuring public-health risks and misrepresenting chemical safety data by paying "experts" to alarm legislators and the public about the risk of removing chemical flame retardants from homes. In addition, the film highlights the argument that the tobacco industry effectively colluded with chemical companies back in the 1970s, lobbying for the use of chemical flame retardants in furniture, rather than developing a self-extinguishing cigarette, at a time when fires ignited by cigarettes were the main cause of home fires in the U.S.

Director and producer Kirby Walker is an independent documentary and educational filmmaker-video producer. Director and producer James Redford's other credits as a director include the 2012 HBO documentary "The Big Picture: Rethinking Dyslexia," and as a producer, "Mann v. Ford," which aired as part of the 2011 HBO Documentary Films summer series, as well as "The Kindness of Strangers," which aired on HBO in 1999.

Other HBO playdates: Nov. 25 (4:55 a.m.), 27 (10:00 a.m.) and 28 (12:20 a.m.), and Dec. 1 (8:30 a.m.), 3 (1:45 p.m.) and 7 (4:15 p.m.)

HBO2 playdates: Nov. 27 (8:00 p.m.) and Dec. 30 (2:30 p.m.)

HBO Documentary Films presents a weekly series this fall, debuting provocative new specials every Monday through Dec. 9. Other November films include: "Tales from the Organ Trade" (Nov. 4); "Crisis Hotline: Veterans Press 1" (Nov. 11); and "Whoopi Goldberg Presents Moms Mabley" (Nov. 18).