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Project Happiness, our feature length documentary film, follows a senior high school class from Mount Madonna School near Watsonville, California, on a journey to discover the true nature of human happiness. Joining them on this quest are students from the Tibetan Children’s Village in Dharamsala, India, and students from the Dominion Heritage Academy in Jos, Nigeria.
The students began their journey by reading the Dalai Lama’s book, Ethics for the New Millennium, a secular and non-religious text which empowers young people to reflect on the connection between the choices they make and happiness in their lives. Using email, blogs and video cameras, the students from three continents exchanged their cultural perspectives. Over seven months, students shared personal stories, opinions and challenges, which created the foundation for life-long friendships.
The conversation also extended to others outside these communities when students interviewed celebrities and visionaries from other cultures about their definition of lasting happiness, including Richard Gere (actor and photographer), George Lucas (filmmaker), Adam Yauch (musician), and Abdul Kalam (President of India) and Sobonfu Some (keeper of African Indigenous wisdom).
Following many months of reflection and cross-cultural conversation, the American students traveled by plane, train and 4WD to India to connect for the first time face-to-face with their counterparts. As a community, they continued to test their theories, ask hard questions and prepare for the meeting of a lifetime... a private interview with the author of their text, the 14th Dalai Lama.
Culminating on graduation day, this is an experience they will never forget. It is also a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for all of us to see through the eyes of our youth what is most important in the universal quest for lasting happiness.
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