The Are you happy? Project

Exactly fifty years ago, in an experiment in documentary, people on the streets of Paris were filmed answering the question, Are you happy? Watch that clip at
theareyouhappyproject.org/

The Are you happy? project is finding out what happens when we ask the same question in the global environment of the web today.

The inspiration for the project, “Chronicle of a Summer” was a ground-breaking documentary, made by Jean Rouch and Edgar Morin, which used the new technology of the day — handheld cameras and sync sound — to looked at the “tribe of people living in Paris”.

What's your response to the inspiration of those Vox Pops from fifty years ago? Answer the question yourself, or ask friends, family, or people on the street. Is it still possible to get authentic responses from interviews with strangers? Or do we have to try a very different approach today?

We’ll be featuring highlights on The Are you happy? Project website and editing selected contributions into a composite documentary (with the producers' approval of course.)