Fat Chance

For more than 40 years, Rick Zakowich had been struggling unsuccessfully to lose weight. Finally, he committed himself to the task of losing 200 pounds. Director Jeff McKay was invited to join Rick on the journey from fat to thin. As this engaging and persuasive documentary reveals, Rick never lost the weight. Instead, the journey became one from self-loathing to self-acceptance, and a challenge to most (if not all) of the popular stereotypes about obesity. Rick’s eloquent self-examination suggests that our culture’s fascination with body image misses the point-that people should be measured by the weight of their ideas and their intellect-not their outward appearance. In this program, executive producer Ches Yetman, producers Charles Konowal and Joe MacDonald, with writer Bonnie Dickie, present a world populated by attractive, intelligent people who just happen to be big. For so doing, a Peabody to the National Film Board of Canada for Fat Chance.