Happiness is still possible, even in the midst of chaos and uncertainty, the Dalai Lama asserts in the new documentary Wisdom of Happiness.
Among those who affirm that hopeful message is Richard Gere, one of the film’s executive producers, who has known the Tibetan spiritual leader for decades. Gere and fellow executive producer Oren Moverman join the latest episode of Deadline’s Doc Talk podcast to discuss the documentary and what they’ve learned from the Dalai Lama – the Nobel Peace Prize winner who is described at age 90 as one of the world’s greatest living thinkers.
Gere, who began practicing Buddhism in the late 1970s, tells us why he sees the film as “a bit of a corrective.” He sees the Dalai Lama as teaching that humans are basically kind, loving and compassionate, which may come as particularly comforting in a contemporary moment characterized by intense political polarization and numerous global conflicts.
The documentary directed by Barbara Miller and Philip Delaquis premiered at the Zurich Film Festival in Switzerland and has played at festivals around the world including the Locarno Film Festival in southern Switzerland, the Rio de Janeiro International Film Festival in Brazil, DocPoint – Helsinki Documentary Film Festival in Finland, and the Dharamshala International Film Festival in India.
Gere also explains how the directors’ decision to borrow a technique pioneered by filmmaker Errol Morris helped make Wisdom of Happiness “completely unique.”
Moverman, the Oscar-nominated writer of The Messenger, jokes that he has no spiritual life but was brought to tears listening to the Dalai Lama’s words. He tells Doc Talk the film contains never-before-seen footage of the Dalai Lama in India, where he has lived in exile since 1959 when China crushed an attempted rebellion by Tibetans.
Doc Talk co-host John Ridley calls the film “deeply profound” and “necessary.”
That’s on the new episode of Doc Talk co-hosted by Oscar winner Ridley (12 Years a Slave, Shirley) and Matt Carey, Deadline’s senior documentary editor. The pod is a production of Deadline and Ridley’s Nō Studios.
Listen to the episode above or on major podcast platforms including Spotify, iHeart and Apple.