July 30th Austin Premiere and DVD Release Party

We welcome all of you to our Waterloo Records DVD release party (5-7pm July 30th). See you there!
HAPPINESS IS begins a nationwide screening tour in Austin on July 30th at the Alamo Draft House Cinema, 1120 South Lamar at 9:30pm.

****Due to the overwhelming demand for tickets, a second theater has been added. However, there are only a limited amount of seats available!

Tickets are free and can be reserved and can be served on a first come first serve basis. Limit two per person. Send your name, phone number and e-mail to Happinessisthemovie [at] gmail.com

Coinciding with the screening is the release of the film on DVD, including a release party at Waterloo Records, 600 North Lamar from 5:00pm – 7:00pm, also on July 30th. Shapter, director of the critically acclaimed documentary Before the Music Dies, spent two years crisscrossing the country talking to a diverse and fascinating range of people. Average working men and women, authors and happiness “experts,” celebrities like John Mellencamp and Willie Nelson, even the Dalai Lama talked with Shapter about what they believe it means to be happy.
“Happiness doesn’t discriminate; it finds – and eludes – people regardless of background, position or accomplishment,” said Shapter. “So we had to talk to a true cross section of people to help us get a clearer picture of what happiness really means.”

If you are looking for pat answers, you won’t find them in HAPPINESS IS. Instead, the film offers thoughtful insight and explores common ground that will help guide viewers on their own personal journeys towards the elusive but obtainable goal of leading a truly happy life.
The Alamo Drafthouse screening benefits Mobile Loaves and Fishes, an Austin-based organization that figures prominently in the film.
Learn more about how you can get involved with Mobile Loaves and Fishes.

For press inquires:
Eric Webber
512 225 2600
eric@webbermcj.com

Happiness Is featured in Giving City Magazine

Giving City Magazine has just written an article on Happiness Is. Below is the full article and you can also download the entire article here.

THE SECRET TO HAPPINESS IS...
A new film asks one of mankind’s most profound questions – and gets the answer.
by Monica M. Williams

After Andrew Shapter finished the film, “Before the Music Dies,” a critical look at the popular music industry, he wondered aloud about the focus of his next project. “Before the Music Dies” had taught him everything there was to know about the music industry, he says, “So I told people my next film had to be about happiness. It was kind of a joke at first.”

But the idea took on its own life, and soon Shapter found himself once again traveling to the far corners of the country to talk - to anyone who was willing - about happiness. “I’d just walk up to them and ask them what their ‘pursuit of happiness’ is. Some people knew right away. Others didn’t know what to say.”

Shapter didn’t have the answers either, but an introduction to Alan Graham, he says, “triggered a dramatic twist that would lead to a definitive ending” for the film.

Graham is a founding member and president of Mobile Loaves & Fishes, an Austin-based nonprofit that takes meals out to the homeless and working poor. On that particular trip, Graham took him on a lunchtime truck run to the downtown library. “It was a real cold, wet, miserable day, I remember,” says Graham. “Usually the homeless move in there to stay warm and dry. They shot all the footage of us in that single truck run. I think (Shapter) got a lot out of it.”

In the video clip, Shapter shows Graham and volunteers making plans in the food pantry area, loading the truck, driving to the Austin downtown library, and handing out food to homeless men. Graham talks about his journey– how he was a successful real estate broker who started asking the tough questions in life and found himself investing everything he had to create MLF. The nonprofit is now in four states and enlists 12 catering trucks and almost 10,000 volunteers a year.

It can be said that Graham is not exactly an ordinary person. “If there were a Fortune 500 for the world’s happiest people,” he says, “I’d be at the top of that list.” His decision to relinquish his wealth in favor of service to the homeless is what led to that happiness, he says. “I run into people all the time that say, ‘I wish I could do what you did,’” says Graham. “When people witness someone like me who has made such a radical change in their life – and now happiness is such an intrinsic part of my life – that impresses people.”

What Shapter found, after interviewing dozens of people from children to accomplished and wealthy businessmen, was proof that achievement, wealth, and fame don’t lead to happiness. Giving to and supporting a cause you believe in, he says, does.

He refers to a statement made by Mother Teresa, sainted for sacrificing her own well being for the sake of the extreme poor of that city.
“People need to find their own Calcutta. The people who are happy in this film all have their own causes,” says Shapter. “The message is that you need to find your own cause, and give.”

For Shapter that cause is Capital City Kids, a nonprofit that helps homeless kids in Central Texas obtain the resources they need to succeed in school. (In Austin, more than 4,000 students pre-K through high school are homeless.) “When I saw the reaction from people after the initial screenings, I thought maybe people were being touched by the film. So I made a request at
the end of one screening here in Austin for donations to Cap City Kids, thinking I’d raise about $1,000. Turns out we raised more than $10,000 that night.”

That same night, a person affiliated with the Obama campaign was in the audience, and is now working with Shapter and C3 (producers of the Austin City Limits Music Festival) to build a model for the film’s distribution. This summer, the team will enlist sponsors to take the film on a 40-city tour that will engage local charities and turn screenings into fundraisers, with Shapter selling DVDs of the film at those events.

“What I found then is that when people get over their egos, they generally stop doing whatever it is that is keeping them from being happy,” says Shapter. “They stop comparing themselves to people ‘above’ them and start looking around at others. Then they start to help.”

Shapter on Happy, Texas

“I was shocked to see the the small towns deteriorating. We have these mass migrations to the big cities – like Houston, Miami, and Phoenix – because people are leaving these tight-knit communities where everybody knows your name. And it’s sad.

“There was this woman in Happy, Texas, whose husband died, and that caused the whole town to come together and take care of her, support her through that time. But then that widow moved to Dallas and joined a support group for widows; there she met another widow who lived in Dallas when her husband died but said none of her neighbors even knew her. That broke her heart.

“You know, our country is a nation of immigrants; we are people that believe success and wealth lie somewhere else. So it’s in our DNA. It’s why young people move away from home. “What’s remarkable is that new immigrants are the ones re-making these small communities and keeping them alive. I think young people will continue to move away and take that journey, but what’s going to happen is that they will always get called back.”

Happiness Is Trailer

Screening Tour 2009

We are pleased to announce a new tour is in development. Dates, venue locations and times will soon be announced. We are organizing the first leg of our tour right now. Our first 15 cities include.

Austin, TX
San Antonio, TX
Houston, TX
New Orleans, LA
Lincoln, NE
Des Moines, IA
Minneapolis MN
Madison WI
Grand Rapids MI
Pittsburgh PA
Boston MA
Woonsocket RI
New York City NY
Orlando FL
Nashville TN
Grand Junction, CO

If you would like to be a part of one of our screenings in or around the areas listed above, please contact us.

Tour begins July 30th! More details soon. Check back here for more information about a screening in your area.

New Team Members

Greeting from Happiness Headquarters in Austin Texas,

I want to take a moment to recognize our newest team member, Tanner Moehle. Tanner is the visual scientist that is working on the new look of the DVD and this site. Tanner lives in Austin and has been a designer since 2000 and he specializes in Graphic and Web Design. His work can be seen at tannermoehle.com.

Tanner has been working with expert web developer Josh Alley to build and optimize our new site. Josh has 8 years of experience and has a knack for solving any and all web development conundrums.

Things are revving up for us! Our team members are gathering soon to get things started. The DVD release is coming very soon and starting next week, we'll be blogging on a regular basis! That's right, you'll hear directly from me (Andrew Shapter), our Producer Tracy Marino, Associate Producer Christina Fernandez, team members Eric Klein, Tanner and many more folks in the coming months.

We want to hear from you too. Send us your comments or questions. You can log on now to make comments. In addition, please take a moment to follow us on twitter and let us know your thoughts on the film or happiness in general. Share interesting articles, research with us at any time or just say "hello". We want to hear from you!

Andrew Shapter
twitter.com/andrewshapter