''Happy'' is a 2011 documentary film directed, written, and co-produced by

Roko Belic Roko Belic is an American film producer and director. His directorial debut, ''Genghis Blues'', was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Early life and education Belic was born to Czechoslovakian and Yugoslavian parents, ...

. It explores human happiness through interviews with people from all walks of life in 14 different countries, weaving in the newest findings of

positive psychology Positive psychology is the scientific study of what makes life most worth living, focusing on both individual and societal well-being. It studies "positive subjective experience, positive individual traits, and positive institutions...it aims t ...

Synopsis

Roko Belic was inspired to create the film after producer/director

Tom Shadyac Thomas Peter Shadyac (born December 11, 1958) is an American director, screenwriter, producer, and author. The youngest joke-writer ever for comedian Bob Hope, Shadyac is widely known for writing and directing the comedy films ''Ace Ventura: Pe ...

showed him an article in ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' titled "A New Measure of Well Being from a Happy Little Kingdom". The article ranks the United States as the 23rd-happiest country in the world. Shadyac then suggested that Belic make a documentary about happiness. Belic spent several years interviewing hundreds of people, from leading happiness researchers to a rickshaw driver in

Kolkata Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , the official name until 2001) is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal, on the eastern bank of the Hooghly River west of the border with Bangladesh. It is the primary business, comme ...

, a family living in a cohousing community in Denmark, a woman who was run over by a truck, a

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

fisherman, and more.

Production

Roko and his brother Adrian Belic shot the film on three Sony Z1U HDV video cameras. They interviewed a number of psychologists around the world, including

Ed Diener Edward Francis Diener (July 25, 1946 – April 27, 2021) was an American psychologist, professor, and author. Diener was a professor of psychology at the University of Utah and the University of Virginia, and Joseph R. Smiley Distinguished Profe ...

, a professor of psychology at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

;

Richard Davidson Richard J. Davidson (born December 12, 1951) is professor of psychology and psychiatry at the University of Wisconsin–Madison as well as founder and chair of the Center for Healthy Minds and the affiliated non-profit Healthy Minds Innovations. ...

, a professor at the University of Wisconsin's Lab of Affective Neuroscience; and

Sonja Lyubomirsky Sonja Lyubomirsky (russian: Соня Любомирская, born December 14, 1966) is a Russian-born American professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of California, Riverside and author of the ''The How of Happiness: A Scie ...

, professor at the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban distr ...

and author of '' The How of Happiness''.

Post-production

Vivien Hillgrove edited the film. Belic received the majority of the budget from

to complete principal photography and post-production. The filmmakers then turned to

crowdsource Crowdsourcing involves a large group of dispersed participants contributing or producing goods or services—including ideas, votes, micro-tasks, and finances—for payment or as volunteers. Contemporary crowdsourcing often involves digita ...

fundraising website

Kickstarter Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...

to raise the finishing funds for the film. The Kickstarter campaign raised $36,000 in July 2010.

References

External links

* * {{IMDb title, 1613092 2011 films 2011 documentary films Documentary films about mental health Positive psychology Kickstarter-funded documentaries Films shot in Kolkata Happiness Films directed by Roko Belic 2010s English-language films

Synopsis

Production

Post-production

See also

References

External links