John Sorensen – Project Happiness

Project Happiness focuses on four teens from Santa Cruz, California. Each faces personal obstacles to happiness: loss, alienation and the everyday challenges of being a teenager passing into adulthood. Project Happiness introduces them to their peers in Nigeria and India and quickly leaves lectures and books behind. In addition to connecting with each other, the teens engage in conversations with cultural icons George Lucas, Richard Gere and groundbreaking neuroscientist Richard Davidson. At the end of the year together, the three groups converge in Dharamsala, India, for a rare private interview with the Dalai Lama–an event that rocks their expectations, brings more questions than answers and marks a new chapter in their lives. Shot in high definition, Project Happiness combines verite-style camera work with epic vistas. Mixing formats and shooting styles, the film conveys the ephemeral feeling of happiness found in both the profound and the mundane, juxtaposing the soaring Himalayan Mountains with unguarded moments of young people at school and home. The camera is not a passive observer, but actively engages with the kids and invites the viewer to join the class and bear witness to lives at a crossroads.