New documentary questions: ‘Are you happy?’

A filmmaker spent five years traveling to 30 countries asking this question: “Are you happy?”

The answers are now depicted in a documentary titled “Are You Happy?” The answers range from funny to profound, and they paint a candid snapshot of how people think about life in current times.

Atdhe Trepca, the creator of this documentary, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the reaction to this seemingly simple question and the story behind his idea and journey across the world.

“We live in a crazy world, and happiness seems to be on this very wide spectrum nowadays,” Trepca, “…I wanted to pursue my own projects and try to uncover some layer of Truth…I quit my job…drove across the country, and asked random strangers that simple, powerful question.”

Trepca discussed his process during this project as he asked random people on the street a simple question, “Are You Happy?” He then would ask them to guide him on where to go to find the next person.

“I’ve gotten thousands of answers…really boils down to perspective,” Trepca explained, “…how you view things that happen to you in your life. Do you choose to view them as a negative or a positive? So, although it might be a divisive thing to say about eventual happiness, it is really a choice.”

According to Trepca, it depended on the place, time of day, and year that determined the typical responses he would receive.

“I was asking people during COVID,” Trepca said, “…a lot of people were unhappy certainly, but there were times where, in certain countries, where people didn’t define their happiness by what was happening in the world. Instead, they defined it by their five-mile radius, their community, and their family.”

Trepca emphasized that the true source of happiness doesn’t come from worrying about things that are happening out of one’s control, but it should be defined by the five-mile radius around you.