Last night, a Northern California screening of HBO’s documentary, The Weight of the Nation, was held for an audience of 500 at the Oakland Museum. The event, which celebrated local food heroes, included participation from several community organizations, cooking demonstrations, and a lively panel discussion and audience Q&A after viewing part four of the documentary, which focuses on challenges to reversing the U.S. obesity epidemic. That discussion was captured and streamed live from the event, and can be viewed here or in the video below.
In one of the nation’s largest public health campaigns on obesity to date, HBO has joined with the Institute of Medicine, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Kaiser Permanente and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to produce The Weight of the Nation. The documentary series debuts on HBO May 14, but it will also be available on many other platforms, including YouTube, free of charge.
For more reactions to the Oakland screening, check out the tweetstream from last night at hash tag #weightofthenation. More screenings like this one and last week’s in Denver will be held across the United States in the coming weeks, and we will continue to post highlights of these events. Inspired to take action and schedule a screening in your own community? Request your screening kit here.
