Singapore’s First Happiness Film Festival

Simon and Sherman in action at the Happiness Film Festival. Photo courtesy of the author.

Simon Leow (MAPP 2015) and Sherman Ho want to help people better understand the choices they can make to be happier. Their hope is to make Singapore a kinder, more gracious, and resilient society. They both came to this endeavor after their own winding, yet serendipitous paths. In 2011, Simon Leow, a successful educator and administrator, found himself unhappy with thoughts of suicide, despite a successful career. He had status and material comfort, yet he found himself at a crossroad. He quit his job and traveled. In his travels, he realized that everyone just wants to be happy. To help him understand what enables happiness, he searched for a master’s degree in happiness and found MAPP at the University of Pennsylvania.

Similarly, Sherman started out as a commodities trader in a multi- national corporation, working on the Africa team. After much travel in Africa, including a three-month stint in Ghana, he saw a world vastly different from Singapore. The struggles for developing nations are far removed from the challenges others face in more privileged societies like Singapore. And despite these privileges, there were still many people in Singapore who were unhappy. This shaped his perspective of life and led him to ponder what makes people happy.

Simon and Sherman’s individual happiness journeys led to the founding of the Happiness Initiative (just two years after Simon finished MAPP). They shared a common vision and complementary strengths. One of Simon’s top strengths is creativity which was synergistic with Sherman’s ability to convert ideas into reality. They appreciate how they are able to bring out the best of each other while covering each other’s blind spots. Sherman noted that the team did have their differences but meaning, along with a shared vision, help transcend any disparities.

In 2017, they developed The Mindset Board Game. Through the game, participants can discover the differences between Growth and Fixed Mindset and build the skills necessary for developing the former. To date, the game has been played by over 2,000 people, mostly K-12 students.

After the success of The Mindset Board Game, the pair wanted to go bigger. They wanted something impactful with a broader reach. Simon pushed for a film festival. He saw that film had power, the ability to evoke strong emotion while delivering important messages, and importantly audiences might challenge their perspectives on what happiness means to them. Simon knew Sherman had been a long- standing volunteer with the Singapore Film Society and that would help them build the roadmap. The seed was planted!

A mere eight months would pass before the inaugural event would launch. Most of the work fell squarely on the pair – only adding staffing the final weeks before launch. Along the way, they secured grants from the MAPP Alumni Association, National Youth Council, and the Singapore government grant (Our Singapore Fund).

The film festival was held March 20 – 24, 2019 (coinciding with the United Nations Day of Happiness) in Singapore and attended by over 1,500 people —a completely sold out event—workshops and films alike. The common theme was “Happiness is from Within” and explored different aspects of happiness: kindness, resilience, meaning, purpose, pain, vulnerability,

technology, attachment, being present, contentment, and mindful consumption. There were ten events: two 90-minute workshops (one on happiness and one on meaning) and eight screenings. Each screening was followed by a moderated panel discussion. The panels consisted of over 20 professionals including MAPPster Ms. Sulynn Choong, Dr. William Wan (General Secretary, Singapore Kindness Movement) and Ms. Jun Chu (Head of Public Policy and Philanthropy, Greater China, Twitter, Inc.).

Looking at the packed audiences, Simon asked himself, “If happiness can spread in some small way to several hundred people at a screening, might they go home or into their community and spread a bit to others?” He realized that the film festival was bigger than just the Happiness Initiative and those who made the event happen. The power of the event continues. Currently, there is even a well-known producer in Singapore who is researching a new film on happiness as a result of the festival. No less important was the overwhelming response from the audiences. The vast majority felt they gained insights from the event (97%). One hundred percent of those surveyed said they were satisfied with the event. Ninety six percent felt inspired to do something more for their community.

Simon and Sherman have big plans for the future. Next year, the Happiness Initiative is growing the film festival into a much broader international conference bringing in practitioners of positive psychology to inspire a larger dialogue and run workshops. Day hours will be spent in conference with the film festival airing at night. The Happiness Film Festival will run from March 18 – 22, 2020 with the Happiness Conference coinciding March 19 – 21, 2020.

In a recent Skype conversation with Simon, he thoughtfully pondered all the ways that MAPP has enabled his journey. He shared the support of the MAPP community including Sulynn Choong’s assistance with the film festival, the MAPP Alumni grant, MAPPsters sharing the film festival on social media, Lisa Sansom helping tout it in MAPP Briefs, the emotional support of his MAPP classmates, etc. He paused, and then remarked how he has attended other higher education programs including pursuing a Ph.D. in Singapore after MAPP. Ultimately, the program didn’t hold the inspiration and community. He remarked that the Ph.D. program had rigorous statistics, but it lacked the ability for him to get in touch with what truly matters. What makes MAPP so different? Simon said, “I think what makes the MAPP program special is it allows us to get in touch with our heart.”

Find out more about the Happiness Film Festival and the Happiness initiative here:

Website: happinessinitiative.sg

Facebook: facebook.com/happinessinitiative.sg/

Instagram: instagram.com/happinessinitiative.sg/