Agent of Happiness

In the organizer's words:

• BU/HU 2024
• 94 min
• Director: Arun Bhattarai & Dorottya Zurbó
• FSK: not specified
• Documentary: Original version with German voiceover and subtitles where applicable

Screenings:

• Thurs., July 10, 2025 - Mon., July 14, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.
• Wed., July 16, 2025 - Wed., July 23, 2025 at 5:00 p.m.

With AGENT OF HAPPINESS, Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó open up a view into other lives and into another, fascinating world. Based on Bhutan's happiness policy, which is known worldwide today, the film explores the question of what happiness can be.

The documentary road movie AGENT OF HAPPINESS, which celebrated its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival, accompanies Bhutanese Amber Gurung on his travels through the remote valleys of the Himalayas. There, representatives like him ask the people of Bhutan about their very personal sense of happiness - and thus provide the basis for the policy of "Gross National Happiness", according to which the Bhutanese
government uses to guide the country's development. AGENT OF HAPPINESS follows Amber and a colleague as they drive from door to door in their small car and meet a wide variety of people, whether in the village or in the countryside, whether tilling the fields, praying or meditating. They react very differently to Amber's standardized questionnaire: whether they own a cow or a donkey, a tractor or a laptop - they all talk with unflinching honesty and quiet wisdom about their lives and what makes them happy and what perhaps does not.
what makes them happy and what perhaps doesn't. And Amber himself, who at almost 40 years old lives alone with his elderly mother, plays air guitar on his travels, sings and dances - but ultimately only dreams of finally finding the right woman. On the road on behalf of happiness and
in search of his own happiness...