AGENT OF HAPPINESS
Director: Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó
Year: 2024
Rating: UC15+
Run time: 94 mins
Country: Bhutan, Hungary
Genre: Documentary
Language: In Dzongkha and Nepali with English subtitles
Premiering at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, this documentary follows an agent for Bhutan’s Ministry of Gross National Happiness journey across the country measuring people’s happiness, while also searching for his own.
A reminder of the fragility and beauty of individual satisfaction. How do you measure happiness? Bhutan’s Gross National Happiness offers an answer, and Amber, an agent dedicated to this mission, travels door to door to gauge it. Still living with her elderly mother at 40, Amber remains a hopeful romantic, searching for his own joy. Accompany him on a cross-country journey as he meets people from all walks of life and listens to their hopes and dreams for their futures. Premiered in competition at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival.
The film, a Bhutan-Hungary collab co-directed by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó, was shown at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival’s World Cinema Documentary Competition. Agent of Happiness makes us reflect on and reassess what we’re chasing in life and why.
Screening with short film GENERATIONS OF MEN (2024 | 15m | Joanna Joy | Australia | UC15+).
In May 1859, a white family traveling overland to Rockhampton with the help of Aboriginal guides, is delayed when the mother goes into labour. Cast: Brenna Harding, Johnny Carr, Ella Mason, Andrew Young, Zalhi Hayden, Niouoolya Koorongyu Kami Terare
Director: Arun Bhattarai, Dorottya Zurbó
Starring: Amber Kumar Gurung, Guna Raj Kuikel
Subtitled screening, Wheelchair access