Date: 28.12. – 28.12.2024
Time: 20:30
Title: Agent of Happiness | New Release
Location: Kino Lumiere (K3), Špitálska 4, Bratislava
Organizer: Kino Lumiere (K3), K3

Event Description:
How happy were you yesterday? Do you own a refrigerator? How many goats do you have?
The happiness calculation form includes 148 such questions. Amber, a middle-aged man who desires to get married and lives with his elderly mother, works for the government, which denies him citizenship due to his Nepali minority background. Together with his easygoing colleague Gun Raj, he works for the Center for Gross National Happiness, a government institution tasked with collecting data on the happiness of citizens. They visit cities and picturesque mountain villages, engaging locals in conversations about their contentment. Through the people they meet, we gain insight into Bhutanese society and its views on happiness in the face of adversity. The government hopes that the research will confirm Bhutan’s position as one of the happiest countries in the world. However, glimpses into the private lives of the respondents and Amber himself, who longs for a family and cares for his sick mother, reveal that life in the Himalayan kingdom is not a fairy tale for everyone. What lies behind the numbers used to calculate Gross National Happiness?

The film had its world premiere at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, where it competed for the Grand Jury Prize in the World Cinema Documentary category.