Skip to main content
Agent of Happiness film image; three monks seated on porch

Agent of Happiness

This event has passed

How is happiness measured? Can satisfaction with one’s life be rated on a scale from one to ten? The Kingdom of Bhutan’s famous – and highly exoticized – government policy measuring its nation’s Gross National Happiness operates on the idea that the basic tenets of fulfillment can and should be quantified when calculating their nation’s development. Does having a cow or a goat make a difference? How about a tractor? Happiness Agent Amber Gurung treks throughout the Himalayan mountains to survey the contentment of citizens from different households and lifestyles. While Amber dutifully administers this census, he too is forced to confront his own struggles with fulfillment, and question what makes him happy.

Serene… The combination of staggeringly beautiful scenery and the film’s gentle humour initially suggests a benign Nat Geo-style documentary crowdpleaser. But Agent of Happiness tackles darker themes, such as alcoholism, loneliness and a transgender woman’s fear of losing her mother and staunchest supporter. A slow-burning portrait that’s infused with warmth.

Wendy Ide, The Observer

Melodic and meaningful… The further the film goes on, the more it transitions from literal and observational, to poetic impressionistic. The result is both calming and humanizing, as though it were an artistic embodiment of the very contentment the Kingdom boasts.

Siddhant Adlakha, Variety

Directors

Arun Bhattarai & Dorottya Zurbó

Cast

Amber Kumar Gurung, Sarita Chettri, Guna Raj Kuikel, Hemlata Gurung, Yangka Lhamo, Wangmo Lhamo

Credits
Country of Origin

Bhutan/Hungary

Year

2024

Language

In Nepali, Dzongkha and English with English subtitles

19+
94 min

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits

Executive Producer

Dawn Bonder, Daniel J. Chalfen, Janice Finley, Susan Potter, Marci Wiseman

Producer

Noémi Veronika Szakonyi, Máté Artur Vincze, Arun Bhattarai

Cinematography

Arun Bhattarai

Editor

Péter Sass

Original Music

Ádám Balázs

Also Playing

The Master

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
138 min

Joaquin Phoenix as WWII vet Freddie Quell falls into the orbit of Philip Seymour Hoffman's self-styled prophet Lancaster Dodd in this tremulous 1950s psychodrama from Paul Thomas Anderson.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Boyhood

Dir. Richard Linklater
165 min

A dozen years in the making, Richard Linklater's masterpiece chronicles the evolution of a boy into a young man, from six to 18. It is the ultimate coming-of-age movie, and one of the most audacious cinematic feats of the decade.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre

School of Rock

Dir. Richard Linklater
108 min

With not one, but two new Richard Linklater movies at VIFF this year (Nouvelle Vague and Blue Moon), we thought it would be fun to revisit a choice cut from his rich back catalogue: the best Black and White movie ever made, School of Rock.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
Cory Weeds Plays Sonny Rollins
Saxophone Colossus film image; jazz band playing on a stone ledge

Cory Weeds Plays Sonny Rollins

Dir. Robert Muge
150 min

Local sax legend Cory Weeds is joined by pianist Sharon Minemoto, bassist David Caballero and drummer Jesse Cahill to play music from Sonny Rollins' 1957 Riverside Records release The Sound Of Sonny, plus a screening of the acclaimed Saxophone Colossus doc.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema