Happiness Is Movie Screening
Last week, I saw a tweet about Happiness Is, a documentary on yes, you guessed it, happiness. Screenings were making stops throughout the United States and Boulder was next. Since I’m usually down, I gathered some friends to see what was up.
It began with writer and director, Andrew Shapter as he hit the road in his van asking Americans, “What is it that makes you happy, what is your pursuit of happiness and how do you achieve it?”
In the three years Shapter and his team were on the road filming, he said, “I looked for people that are really satisfied with what they are doing in their lives.” The end result showed touching stories of the rich, the poor, rockstars (e.g. John Mellencamp, Willie Nelson) and the famous (e.g. The Dalai Llama). I like how Shapter covered big cities and rural America. I feel he properly covered a diverse group of people that told a story.
The end result and somewhat conclusion came from one of my favorite terms and beliefs, “Giving is living.” We find great gratitude and of course, happiness from giving and your community that is a subset of natural giving. Although the film wasn’t groundbreaking or new news to me, I still felt touched by each story and liked the (simple) conclusion of sharing, giving and community, creating more happiness.
At the Boulder screening, Shapter talked about his 20 year background in fashion photography (pretty superficial world) and his uncertainty on how to end the film or find a conclusion. Finally he asserted, “The more I went around and had these soul-searching conversations, I realized the people who were happiest were those who tried to make their community better. Those were the happiest people around.”
One of my favorite stories was from a life-long shoe shiner. He believed in giving to a children’s hospital and through his shoe shining career he gave over $100,000 in donations (little by little, a couple dollars at a time). What a meaningful amount for a shoe shiner, who believed that even the smallest donation could make a difference and give back. His story was so touching.
Finally, through the conclusion to the film, Shatner realized “what I truly wanted–and needed–to do was to use the film as a tool to try and achieve that happiness goal by turning each screening into a fundraiser for a charitable cause.” Very admirable and kind. This screening I attended was for the Colorado Coalition to End Hunger.
Below is the trailer, take a peak. You can check out the website here and see if your city is on the screening tour list.
Simply put, what is your pursuit of happiness? How do you define and find happiness?
