An award-winning film at Sundance and a dialogue between science and Buddhism to explore one of humanity's most universal questions.
Can happiness be measured?
The First Cinefórum of the Buddhist Film Festival of Catalonia invites you to find it out.
What does it really mean to be happy? Is there a way to measure human happiness?
These questions, as old as they are universal, inspire the First Cinema Forum of the Buddhist Film Festival of Catalonia, an experience that combines cinema, science and contemplative wisdom to open a profound dialogue about human well-being. “An agent who measures the happiness of others while seeking his own.”
The festival presents the acclaimed documentary The Agent of Happiness (Agent of Happiness), directed by filmmakers Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó. The film, which premiered at Sundance Film Festival and screened at more than one hundred international festivals, invites us to reflect on the nature of happiness in our daily lives.
The cinefórum will be held in person at the emblematic Verdi Park cinema in Barcelona and also online, allowing people from all over Spain to participate.
The event proposes an experience that combines cinema, reflection and spirituality. It's not just about watching a movie, but about participating in an open conversation about one of life's deepest questions.
After the screening, a space for reflection will be opened with the colloquium “Can happiness be measured?”, in which the co-director will participate Dorottya Zurbó together with guests who will share their vision of happiness from the point of view of science and Buddhism. The dialogue will be moderated by the producer, director, writer and journalist Jordi Llompart.
The public will also have the exceptional opportunity to speak directly with the director and other guests in an open round of questions and answers.
This First Cinema Forum was created with the vocation of being held biannually and with the objective of maintaining a close relationship with all the people who find in cinema —in addition to entertainment— a tool for reflecting on ethics, peace and human well-being. This is not an activity aimed exclusively at the Buddhist community, but rather an open space that seeks to build bridges between the ancient wisdom of the East and the concerns of contemporary society, promoting a culture of conscience, dialogue and coexistence.
Like the Buddhist Film Festival of Catalonia, the First Cinefórum is a joint initiative of the Catalan Coordinator of Buddhist Entitats (CCEB) and the Dharma-Gaia Foundation (FDG). Both entities co-organize the event, which has the Dharma-Gaia Foundation as its official sponsor and with the collaboration of Buddhist Film Foundation (BFF), the entity responsible for the International Buddhist Film Festival, held in major cities around the world. In addition, the cinefórum has the support of the Barcelona City Council and the Government of Catalonia.
The centennial Verdi Park cinema in Barcelona hosts this event in person and, at the same time, the cinefórum is open to all of Spain in an online format. Those who are not in Barcelona can participate live in the colloquium and enjoy both the film and the recording of the dialogue until June 1, in the original version subtitled in Spanish or Catalan.
About the documentary
The documentary Agent of Happiness takes us to Bhutan, the country that popularized the concept of gross national happiness, and invites us to undertake a journey with Amber, an “agent of happiness” who travels around the country visiting homes to meet people and evaluate how happy they really are.
At 40, Amber is still living with her elderly mother, but she is also an inveterate romantic who dreams of finding love: an agent of happiness who, deep down, is also looking for her own happiness. Along a cross-country road trip, we'll meet citizens from all walks of life, on a journey that reminds us of the fragility and beauty of human happiness, no matter where we live.
The documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2024, where it was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. It is a co-production between Bhutan and Hungary. It lasts 93 minutes and is spoken in Dzongkha and Nepali, with subtitles in Catalan or Spanish.
The direction and screenplay are by Arun Bhattarai and Dorottya Zurbó. The film was nominated for the International Documentary Association (IDA) awards in the categories of Best Documentary and Best Photography in 2024. It has screened at more than 100 film festivals around the world and is supported by the Sundance Film Institute, Catapult Film Fund and DMZ Docs Fund, among others.
About the colloquium “Can happiness be measured?”
Perhaps there is no single definition or universal formula for happiness. And this is precisely the motivation for the dialogue after the screening: an invitation to reflect together with the director and the invited people on what science and Buddhism say about it.
The colloquium will explore different perspectives on happiness, from scientific research to the Buddhist contemplative tradition. At the end of the meeting there will be a round of questions and answers open to the audience, both in the room and online.
Dorottya Zurbó (Budapest, 1988), co-director of The Agent of Happiness, is the guest of honor at this first film forum as part of the Catalan Buddhist Film Festival. He also co-directed his first feature-length documentary with Arun Bhattarai, The Next Guardian (“The Next Guardian”), which premiered in 2017 at the IDFA (Amsterdam International Documentary Film Festival). Her debut as a director was with Easy Lessons, a documentary about a young Somali refugee trying to adapt to Hungary, premiered in the Critics' Week section of the Locarno Film Festival in 2018. In addition to dedicating herself to cinema, for the past ten years she has been a university professor in Budapest and a mentor in the prestigious European DocNomads Joint Master program.
Lama Tsondru (Girona, 1949) is a prominent Catalan Tibetan Buddhist nun and one of the pioneers of Buddhism in Spain. She received her monastic ordination in 1987 and ten years later she took full ordination of gelongma, the Tibetan term for a fully ordained Buddhist nun. He has spent more than thirteen years of strict retirement and currently teaches Buddhist philosophy and meditation. She is one of the few women who hold the title of lama, that is, teacher.
Jordi Llompart (Barcelona, 1962) is the moderator of the colloquium. Catalan writer, journalist and documentary director, he is considered one of the pioneers of shooting for IMAX cinemas in Spain. His most outstanding works include The Mystery of the Nile, based on the first descent in history along the Blue Nile; the first European fiction film shot in stereoscopic 3D, Magical Journey in Africa; and the feature-length documentary about the history of FC Barcelona, Barça Dreams. Communicator, writer and passionate traveler —especially from Africa and the Middle East—, he continues to produce and direct documentaries.
Why not miss this movie forum
• Watch an internationally award-winning documentary
• Listen to your director in dialogue with specialists in science and Buddhism
• Participate in an open conversation about happiness
• Ask questions directly to the people invited
• Live a unique cultural experience at the historic Verdi Park cinema in Barcelona
Book your ticket now and join the conversation about happiness!
🔗 Access ticket sales: https://fcbc.eventive.org/welcome
TICKETS
Online movie forum: 29/05 to 1/06/2026 (VOSE and VOSC)
In-person movie forum:
- Date: May 29, 2026
- Venue: Verdi Park Cinema, Torrijos 49, Barcelona
- Projection: 20:15 h (VOSC)
- Colloquium: 22:00 h (in person and in streaming)
- Reduced capacity
Colloquium: 22:00 h (in person and in streaming)
A film, a universal question and an open dialogue between different ways of understanding life. The First Cinema Forum of the Buddhist Film Festival of Catalonia invites us to stop for a moment and reflect on something we all seek: happiness.
Trailer
Useful links
Catalan Buddhist Film Festival (Facebook)
Catalan Buddhist Film Festival (Instagram)
Catalan Buddhist Film Festival (Wikipedia) Catalan Coordinator of Buddhist Entitats
Catalan Coordinator of Buddhist Entitats
*This article has been published simultaneously in the special edition «Buddhism and Cinema» of the digital magazine Buddhistdoor en Español.
