Stefan Sagmeister’s The Happy Film premieres at Tribeca Film Festival

The Happy Film by Stefan Sagmeister had its world premiere on Saturday 16 April at New York’s Tribeca Film Festival. The documentary, which was funded via Kickstarter, follows Stefan as he conducts a series of experiments on himself to find out if it’s possible for a person to impact their own happiness, trying three different approaches: meditation, therapy and drugs.

The film began as a graphic design project six years ago, but evolved to become an introspective account in which Stefan himself is the subject, trying to become a better person. “I didn’t want to make a film about questions. I hate all that stuff,” he says in the trailer. “Somehow it all became about me. Trying to chase after something more meaningful turned out to be a big pain in the ass.”

Stefan directed the film together with filmmaker Hillman Curtis and Ben Nabors, who runs production studio Group Theory.