SURGE in Berkeley, CA! Project Happiness with Randy Taran and crew! March 2012

Last night, We SURGE was pleased and honored to welcome Randy Taran from the non-profit project happiness group screening the Project Happiness Film during SURGE in Berkeley!

Thursday, March 8th, 2012. 7:30pm-8:30pm - Project Happiness Workshop with Randy Taran

Project Happiness: Skills for a Meaningful Life
Is happiness a habit that can be developed? Learn to identify, cultivate, and practice personal happiness in all aspects of your life in this one hour workshop. Deepening your happiness is not a selfish act – it enriches our lives and the lives of others. Engage in a stimulating group discussion with other people wanting more happiness in their own lives and in the lives of people they care about. Empower yourself by recognizing patterns that can increase your happiness and gain a renewed awareness of your own strengths.

Led by: Randy Taran
Randy Taran is an author, motivational speaker, and the creator, narrator and producer of the award-winning documentary, Project Happiness. Inspired by the making of the documentary, Randy went on to create Project Happiness, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization based in Palo Alto, California. Project Happiness creates educational programs to teach young people how to find their authentic happiness no matter their external situation. Her programs are currently being used by hundreds of schools and organizations throughout 42 states and in 29 countries.

Thursday, March 8th, 2012.Project Happiness Film. Randy Taran answered questions about the film when it finished.


Here is a summary of the Project Happiness recent achievements from Randy Taran:

As I look back on 2011, I am so grateful for the profound impact Project Happiness has been able to make in the lives of so many young people throughout the world. This has been a huge year for us and it has been made possible thanks to the support of people like you.
This year, the Project Happiness team has worked passionately to amplify your generosity and we are well positioned to make an even bigger impact in 2012! To date, Project Happiness programs are being used in schools in 40 states and 27 countries.

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2011

* Project Happiness educational curriculum was initiated in more than 230 schools and organizations spanning nearly every U.S. state and in countries throughout the world!
* The Project Happiness online curriculum was incorporated into the Science of Happiness class at the University of Southern California and into programs and conferences at Stanford University. Project Happiness Town Halls have been hosted at USC, Rollins College, Clark University, Creighton University and Emory University.
* I have had the honor to speak about Project Happiness at Google, TEDx GoldenGateED, the Wisdom 2.0 Youth conference, Stanford University, Tibet House, the University of Southern California, the New York Open Center and for the George Lucas Educational Foundation.
* The Project Happiness film premiered in May and has been chosen as an official selection at 17 film festivals where it has won three awards for excellence in documentary film making.
* Our first schoolwide Project Happiness program was implemented at the Saklan School with all students, kindergarten through eighth grade participating.
* Project Happiness continues with its global expansion! In 2011, we brought on Emmanuel Ande Ivorgba as director of African programming. With his guidance, Project Happiness is affecting social change with more than 1000 children in Nigeria. African programming is now being expanded into Kenya, Ethiopia, Liberia and Egypt.
* In India, we have launched a year-long program to teach Project Happiness to children from the urban slums of Delhi. This program is being headed by Vibha, founder of the NGO Muskaan.
* Proyecto Felicidad! We have just finalized the Spanish language version of the Project Happiness film and will be premiering it next month in Mexico. In addition to the film, all of our other resources will be available in early 2012 for the Spanish speaking communities here in the U.S. and abroad.

SURGE in Austin, Texas! World Premiere of Debt to Society with Director, Lead Actor and the Amazing Cast and Several Crew Members! Feb 2012


Bradd Hopkins is an award-winning screenwriter, author and publisher of award-wining fiction and non-fiction books. Bradd's Debt to Society screenplay is based on his award-winning original short story by the same name.


On February 21st, 2012 in Austin, Texas the SURGE Film festival was happy to present the World Premiere of "Debt to Society " followed by a Q+A afterwards with Director Bradd Hopkins, Lead Actor Rene Reyes and several members of the amazing cast and cre



Long Synopsis
An imprisoned felon in a dystopian future pays his Debt to Society in sinister lottery when his number is drawn the day after a poignant visit from his wife and children.

Xavier, prisoner 1031, is doing hard time for manslaughter, soon to be paroled, when his number comes up as an involuntary organ donor in the corporate correctional system’s legal lottery.

Co-opted by their own economic necessities in a jobless economy, prison administrators, parole board members, and guards, as well as the prisoners and their families, are insulted, desensitized, and dehumanized in a macabre process that is designed only to assure fiscal viability at the expense of human dignity.

At every contact with the dysfunctional system, Xavier’s family is violated and degraded incidentally, but in the broader view, it becomes hard to determine who the victims really are. As the viewer absorbs the impact of Xavier’s losses, awareness emerges that the losses to the victimizers are even greater.

This work touches on the psychological horror of a powerful institutional system-gone-mad that compromises human values and ethics in the name of profits while maintaining a hypocritical façade of callous political correctness and superficial legality.

For more information about this award winning film, please see the profile for this film on the Love to SURGE Directory found at www.LoveToSurge.org or visit the profile page found here.