Cinephil has sold Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó’s feature documentary “Agent of Happiness” to a wide range of key international territories ahead of the film’s Hot Docs debut this weekend.
Deals are confirmed in the U.K. and Ireland (Dogwoof), Germany and Austria (Filmwelt), Australia and New Zealand (Vendetta), Italy (Wanted), Spain and Portugal (Filmin), Poland (Against Gravity), Switzerland (Trigon), Belgium (VRT), Israel (Lev), the Western Balkans (Beldocs), Hong Kong and Macao (Now TV Hong Kong), and Taiwan (Sky Digi), with North American distribution set to be announced shortly. Hungarian distributor Mozinet will release the film on May 2.
“Agent of Happiness” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to positive reviews, and went on to several festivals including True/False, CPH:DOX, San Francisco, Full Frame and the Thessaloniki Documentary Festival.
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Co-directed by Bhattarai and Zurbó following their IDFA-selected “The Next Guardian,” “Agent of Happiness” follows Amber, one of the many agents employed by the country of Bhutan to measure its Gross National Happiness. But will he find his own happiness along the way?
“Bringing this story to wider audiences around the world has always been our dream,” said producers Noémi Veronika Szakonyi and Máté Artur Vincze. “We are extremely delighted and excited that with our partners, we are able to introduce this special story about happiness in so many different countries.”
Cinephil’s Suzanne Nodale and Shoshi Korman said: “We fell in love with ‘Agent of Happiness’ the moment we saw it and could not be happier to have so many great partners joining us to bring this fabulous film to audiences around the globe.”
The doc asks how one measures happiness – the oft-exoticized country of Bhutan invented their unusual Gross National Happiness index to do just that, and its subject Amber is just one of the agents who travels door to door to meet people and measure how happy they really are.
Still living with his elderly mother at the age of 40, Amber is nevertheless a hopeless romantic who dreams of finding love: a happiness agent who is in search of his own happiness. The filmmakers embark with Amber on a cross-country road trip, meeting citizens from all walks of life and encountering the fragility and beauty in their ideas of happiness.
Produced by Szakonyi, Vincze and Bhattarai, the project was developed at the Points North Fellowship 2022, True False Rough Cut Retreat 2023 and Dok.Incubator 2023, and supported by the Sundance Film Institute, Catapult Film Fund, National Film Institute – Hungary, DeNovo Initiative and DMZ Docs Fund, among others.
