Have you heard about this new movie yet? Fed Up might be the first mainstream movie to come out that could have a real impact on our current food and nutritional health systems. 
While I just heard about it this morning, I thought it was worth mentioning. I’ll list some of the interesting details they share here, but look for more information on this soon. It is scheduled to hit theaters on May 9th but no times are available yet in our area. Watch the trailer at least and stay tuned!
About the film
Thirty years ago the U.S. Government issued its first ever dietary guidelines and with it one of the greatest health epidemics of our time ensued. In her documentary feature debut, executive producer and narrator Katie Couric joins Laurie David (An Inconvenient Truth), Regina Scully (The Invisible War) and Stephanie Soechtig (Tapped) to explore why, despite media attention and government policies to combat childhood obesity, generations of kids will now live shorter lives than their parents. Upending the conventional wisdom of why we gain weight and how to lose it, Fed Up unearths
the dirty little secret the food industry doesn’t want you to know- far more of us are sick from what we are eating than anyone has ever realized. The truth is, only 30% of people suffering from diet-related diseases are actually obese; while 70% of us — even those of us who look thin and trim on the outside — are facing the same consequences, fighting the same medical battles as the obese among us. Following a group of children for more than two years, director Stephanie Soechtig achieves a profound intimacy with them as they document their uphill battles to follow the conventional wisdom, ‘diet and exercise’, in order to live healthier, fuller lives. They are undertaking a mission impossible. In riveting interviews with the country’s leading experts, Fed Up lays bare a decades long misinformation campaign orchestrated by Big Food and aided and abetted by the U.S. Government.
About the filmmakers
STEPHANIE SOECHTIG (Director, Producer) is the director and producer of the awardwinning documentary Tapped. Her directorial debut was hailed by critics as “stunning” and “whip-smart” and went on to sweep film festivals across the country while picking up six awards for Best Documentary Feature. Stephanie began her career in television, producing documentaries for 20/20, Primetime Live, The O’Reilly Factor and VH1. She joined forces with Michael and Michelle Walrath in 2008 to start the production company, Atlas Films.
EVE MARSON (Producer) born and raised in New York City and received her BA from Harvard University. Eve has worked as a producer on a wide variety of documentary projects, including television programming for PBS, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet and independent feature films such as Craigslist Joe. Eve has also produced and directed a large library of nonfiction video work in collaboration with GOOD Inc. and Strategic Productions.
SARAH OLSON (Producer) has been producing, developing, and managing documentary projects for television and film for the last fifteen years. Her work has aired on the Documentary Channel, Discovery Channel, Travel Channel, and TLC. Sarah came to Atlas Films more than 6 years ago to work as the Line Producer on the award-winning documentary, Tapped. Now, she has taken on the role of Vice President of Development and Producer in growing Atlas Films viral films branch, as well as producing the company’s next documentary feature- FED UP. Sarah received her BA from Indiana University.
MARK MONROE (Writer) is an award-winning documentary filmmaker whose theatrical writing credits include: “The Summit”, (Winner, Best Editing Sundance 2013); “Who is Dayani Cristal?”, (Winner, Best Cinematography, Sundance 2013); “Sound City”; “The Cove” (Winner, Best Documentary 2010 Academy Awards & Best Documentary Script, W.G.A. 2010); “The Tillman Story”; “Chasing Ice” Winner, Best Cinematography Sundance 2012); “Stolen Seas”; “Last Play at Shea”; “Once in a Lifetime: The Extraordinary Story of the New York Cosmos”, (W.G.A. nomination “Best Documentary Script”, 2007); “Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who”, and writer/director, “Morning Light”, Disney Pictures. A journalism graduate from the University of Oklahoma, Mark began his career in television as a newswriter for CNN in Atlanta. Before writing for film, he produced more than sixty hours of biography-style programming for TV. Currently, Mark is working on academy award winner Louis Psihoyos’ follow-up film to “The Cove”, as well as “Another World” a film about the Occupy Movement and “Mission Blue” on legendary oceanographer Sylvia Earle.
KATIE COURIC (Narrator, Executive Producer) (@katiecouric) is the host of Katie, a daily syndicated daytime talk show that premiered in September 2012. She is an award-winning journalist and TV personality, well-known cancer advocate, and New York Times best-selling author of The Best Advice I Got: Lessons From Extraordinary Lives. In November 2013, Couric joined Yahoo as Global Anchor, where she will help develop Yahoo News’ coverage, report on live world events, and anchor groundbreaking interviews with major newsmakers. Couric joined the Disney/ABC Television Group in summer 2011 and served as special correspondent for ABC News, contributing to ABC World News, Nightline, 20/20, Good Morning America, This Week, and primetime news specials. In September 2006, Couric joined CBS News and became the first female solo anchor of an evening news broadcast. On May 31, 2006, Couric completed a 15-year run as co-anchor of NBC News’ Today Show.
Couric is a co-founder of Stand Up To Cancer (SU2C), co-founder of the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance (NCCRA) with the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF) and Lilly
Tartikoff, and co-founder of the Jay Monahan Center for Gastrointestinal Health. Born in Arlington, VA, Couric graduated with honors from the University of Virginia. She lives
in New York with her two daughters.
LAURIE DAVID (Executive Producer) For over a decade Laurie David has brought her passion and dedication to a variety of important environmental and food issues. Her most recent book,
The Family Dinner: Great Ways to Connect with Your Kids, One Meal at a Time, is an inspirational, practical and green guide to the vital family dinner ritual and how to accomplish it
in today’s busy world. She is working on her second cookbook, The Family Cooks, which is scheduled to be published Mother’s Day 2014. Laurie was a producer of the 2006 Academy Award winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth, executive produced the HBO documentary Too Hot NOT to Handle, and the TBS comedy special Earth to America! She also authored the bestselling book Stop Global Warming: The Solution is You! and co-authored The Down-to-Earth Guide to Global Warming, which has been published in over eight languages. For her first film project since An Inconvenient Truth, Laurie has partnered with Katie Couric to executive produce Fed Up, a feature-length documentary that will examine the causes and impact of the childhood obesity epidemic. Directed by Stephanie Soechtig (Tapped), Fed Up will help change the way Americans look at food. Laurie has received numerous awards and honors, including the Producers Guild of America’s Stanley Kramer Award, a Humanitas Prize Special Award and a Gracie Allen Award. Laurie has been honored with the Audubon Society’s Rachel Carson Award, the Feminist Majority’s Eleanor Roosevelt Award and the NRDC Forces for Nature award. Laurie, a regular blogger on the Huffington Post, has been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show, Good Morning America, The Today Show, CNN, Fox News and MSNBC. She was named a 2006 Glamour Woman of the Year and has been profiled in People, Glamour, Redbook, Ladies Home Journal, Vogue, Rolling Stone, Elle, Wired, House & Garden, The New York Times and
Vanity Fair.
REGINA K. SCULLY (Executive Producer) is the Founder and CEO of Artemis Rising Foundation, a philanthropic organization dedicated to developing and promoting media, education and healing projects that transform our culture. Ms. Scully also is the Founder and CEO of RPR Marketing Communications, a premier PublicRelations Agency, NYC, specializing in exclusive consumer products and brands. A 30-year veteran in the fields of Journalism, Public Relations, Brand Marketing and Filmmaking, Scully has a successful track record of building and producing successful premier brands, projects, and films that integrate cause-related issues, social media, and outreach campaigns. Scully is an Academy Award nominated executive producer, most recently for the 2013 powerful documentary called the Invisible War — a film about the epidemic rapes of women and men in the military. The Invisible War won the 2012 Sundance Audience Award. Scully also executive
produced Miss Representation, a compelling documentary exposing the gender bias that still exists in our country based on the limited portrayals of women and young girls in our media,
politics and entertainment. Scully is a co-founder of www.therepresentationproject.org. Oprah Winfrey’s OWN Network acquired Miss Representation. Scully helped spearhead the development and distribution of its critically acclaimed corresponding national curriculum. And Scully is also involved in the film, Fed Up, a compelling documentary that deals with the growing epidemic of obesity in America. In addition to filmmaking, Scully is deeply passionate about Education reform, and has helped launch some of the most successful inner city charter schools in the country: the Success Academy Schools, in NY (www.successacademies.org); and the Making Waves Academy Schools in NorthernCalifornia (www.makingwaves.org). Scully sits on the following Boards: Georgetown University Board of Regents; Stanford University Board of Philanthropy and Civil Society, CA; Project ALS, NYC; Harvard Women’s Leadership Board; VDay Board; The Representation Project (www.therepresentationproject.org); and the Women’s Media Center, NYC.
HEATHER REISMAN (Executive Producer) is the founder, Chair and CEO of Indigo, Canada’s largest book and lifestyle retailer, and co-founder of Kobo, a leading global eReading company. Ms. Reisman was born in Montreal and educated at McGill University. A past Governor of McGill University and of the Toronto Stock Exchange, she currently serves on the boards of Onex Corporation, Right To Play, and Mount Sinai Hospital. She is also a member of the Bilderberg Steering Committee, a geo-political think group. Ms. Reisman is a recipient of The Order of Canada, holds Honorary Doctorates from four distinguished universities, and has been named to the Financial Times List of Most Powerful Women, The University of Waterloo Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. She also earned the University of Manitoba International Distinguished Entrepreneur Award and the John Molson School of Business Award of Distinction.
Ms. Reisman is married to Gerald Schwartz, Chair and CEO of Onex Corporation. She has four children and nine grandchildren. MICHAEL WALRATH AND MICHELLE WALRATH (Executive Producer) along with
filmmaker Stephanie Soechtig co-founded Atlas Films in 2008, with the goal of creating entertaining films with social messages. Atlas’ first film is the award-winning documentary Tapped. Michael is the co-founder and a managing partner of WGI Group, a private equity firm based in New York City. He is also co-founder and chairman of Moat Inc. and chairman of the board of Yext. He was the founder and CEO of Right Media before its acquisition by Yahoo! in July 2007. After the sale of Right Media, Michael spent two years at Yahoo! as Senior Vice President, and was awarded the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2007. Michelle and Michael manage The Walrath Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization focused on social, environmental and health issues, with a special emphasis on children’s health. Michelle is also the founder of www.dreamingreengirl.com, a lifestyle website dedicated to helping young women find healthy living.
