Project Happiness Rolls out the Red Carpet for Private Screening of Its Documentary Film and Fundraising Event 'Red Carpet to Happiness'

Project Happiness Rolls out the Red Carpet for Private Screening of Its Documentary Film and Fundraising Event 'Red Carpet to Happiness'

2009 Sundance Submission Featuring Richard Gere, George Lucas and His Holiness, the Dalai Lama

PALO ALTO, Calif., Oct. 30 /PRNewswire/ -- Project Happiness, a non-profit organization based in Palo Alto, presents the private screening of its documentary film -- Project Happiness -- as part of their fundraising event Red Carpet to Happiness held on November 15 at the Letterman Digital Arts Center in the Presidio, San Francisco. Proceeds of the evening will benefit Project Happiness' efforts to empower teens in various cultures to reduce stress, create greater happiness within and seed compassion around the world.

Featuring Richard Gere, George Lucas, His Holiness the Dalai Lama, and students from three continents, the film follows a senior high school class from Mount Madonna School near Watsonville, California, on a cross-continent journey to discover the true nature of human happiness. The inspiration for this journey comes from reading the Dalai Lama's book, Ethics for the New Millennium, a secular and non-religious text, which empowers young people to reflect on the connection between the choices they make and happiness in their lives.

Using email, blogs and video cameras, along with an innovative curriculum, the students communicate with other students from the Tibetan Children's Village in Dharamsala, India, and students from the Dominion Heritage Academy in Jos, Nigeria. Over one year, the students shared their personal stories, opinions and challenges, creating the foundation for life-long friendships.

"We hope to communicate in this film our core belief -- that changing the world and touching our humanity begins first by finding happiness within ourselves," said Randy Taran, Project Happiness founder and CEO. "When we change our thoughts, we change our world. It's a concept that is so simple, yet in challenging times, the most complex -- as so many people are distracted by all that is happening in the world around us. What I know for sure it that we all have the capacity to create greater happiness in our own lives, and in the lives of others."

Using an experiential curriculum together with digital media, Project Happiness inspires teens to explore the relationship between their choices and happiness, and to discover a new sense of awareness and compassion for themselves, and the world around them.

In a letter of support sent to the organization from the secretary to the XIV Dalai Lama, Tenzin Geyche Tethong states: "We are very pleased to offer our encouragement and support to Project Happiness, based on His Holiness' book 'Ethics for the New Millennium'. His Holiness looks forward to interacting with this group of young people, and helping them communicate to others their journey to real happiness, discovery and hope."

EVENT DETAILS -- RED CARPET TO HAPPINESS

The evening of November 15 beginning at 5pm will include a cocktail reception, followed by dinner and an auction, then a sneak preview of the feature length documentary at 8pm. Special auction items include attending a breakfast with his Holiness the Dalai Lama. Proceeds of the event will allow Project Happiness to expand the success of the program to 500 schools and 50,000 students worldwide, as well as directly supporting their Nigerian school, Creative Minds International Academy.

For more information about the event go to: http://www.redcarpettohappiness.com/

ABOUT PROJECT HAPPINESS

Headquartered in Palo Alto, CA, Project Happiness is a visionary non-profit organization, dedicated to inspiring and empowering youth worldwide through a multi-platform approach that includes film, television, books, DVDs, educational outreach, targeted products, interactive online content, cutting edge as well as traditional media, and exhibits. For more information about Project Happiness go to http://www.projecthappiness.com/

Special thanks to George Lucas for his generous support of Project Happiness.

Source: Project Happiness

CONTACT: Amy Bonetti of Big Mouth Communications, +1-415-384-0900,
amy@bigmouthpr.com, for Project Happiness

Web site: http://www.projecthappiness.com/

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