Katie Couric’s documentary Fed Up premiered Sunday at Sundance Film Festival.
Katie Couric linked up with An Inconvenient Truth producer producer Laurie David to make a film that explores the epidemic of childhood obesity and its not-so-obvious causes.
The 57-year-old TV anchor produced and narrates the film.
Katie Couric said she pitched Laurie David her idea over email, “and it took her about 10 seconds to say, <<I’m in>>.”
She said documentaries “are replacing journalism in some cases” because budget cuts and a taste for quick news bites means “nobody invests the time to really investigate some of the biggest social issues”.
“It’s great to have the time and … to know that you don’t have to turn it around in a day, a week or even a month,” she said.
“You have 93 minutes to really flesh out an issue that deserves that and then some. That is so liberating.”
Fed Up, directed by Stephanie Soechtig, uses historical footage and news events to show the causes and costs of obesity in the US.
“This generation of children is the first to live a shorter life span than their parents, and it has ramifications in every aspect of our lives,” Katie Couric said.
“Talk about skyrocketing health care costs: the obesity epidemic is behind these health care costs. And national security: these people are too heavy to join the military…. It affects so many aspects of our country’s health that we really need to start paying attention.”
Katie Couric said she hopes the film informs people and incites them to action so the food industry might become as accountable for its harmful products as the tobacco industry has.
“We really hope this is going to be a wakeup call,” she said.
Katie Couric also plans to dig into social issues and talk with newsmakers and cultural leaders in her new gig at Yahoo, and she’s not afraid to leave television behind.
