Dalai Lama Offers Wisdom Of Happiness, Must-See Film Executive Produced By Richard Gere: How To Best Solve World Problems, Individual Difficulties On Mass Scale: UPDATED Still In Theaters
Dalai Lama Offers Wisdom Of Happiness, Executive Produced By Richard Gere: How To Best Solve World Problems, Individual Problems On Mass Scale
Editor’s note: Rep. Malliotakis met with the Dalai lama in India, presenting gifts from Staten Island’s own Jacques Marchais Museum of Tibetan Art, the only Tibetan-style temple outside of Tibet. See below for a slideshow featuring images from the premiere on Oct 16th at AMC Lincoln Square:
The Dalai lama is known as a bodhisattva. For those who don’t know, in Buddhism, a bodhisattva is a being that reaches the state of nirvana whereby he does not have to return to Earth for another birth. But to assist those who have been left behind, such a being returns again and again, lifetime after lifetime, to help humanity and to bring his light, cultivated over many lifetimes, to illuminate the world. That is what this film is about.
It’s also interesting to note that Staten Island, of all places on Earth, is home to the only Tibetan-style temple outside of Tibet. It is similar to a monastery in many respects, including caves cut into the mountain, sacred art, and meditation garden. Residents can view exhibitions from their large collection of Tibetan art and artifacts, attend lectures by Tibetan Buddhists, take meditation classes, and enjoy the peaceful garden.
For those wanting to see a fictionalized representation of the bodhisattva way of life, Disney’s Wish exemplifies that compassion. And Checkpoint Zoo, a recent documentary, is the bodhisattva way of life as a lived experience. Most critical to the understanding of it is the realization that there is no direct benefit to the one that gives compassion, but he understands that everyone and everything is connected, and in harming another being one is also harming oneself.
This film was powerful and poignant in so many ways. For those of us who weren’t alive in 1959 (or in the 1990s during a revival of Interest in the plight of the Tibetan people after the Dalai lama was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize), the historical information about the Chinese invasion and takeover of Tibet, compete with starvation of the local people, gulags, torture, and death will be brand new.
The cultural genocide carried out by the Chinese government against the people of Tibet has often been referred to as a crime against humanity. Their history, culture, and people were systematically erased and eradicated. Had it not been for the escape and refugee status in India of this films’ subject (along with several others including Thich Nhat Hanh and Tarthang Tulku), Tibet would be a forgotten memory.
The Dalai lama has been a thorn in the side of the Chinese Communist Party since 1959, never staying quiet, never giving up, always fighting for his people and homeland and for a peaceful resolution to the endless conflict.
Among the many topics he discusses are the ways in which anger, fear, and hatred have caused much suffering in the world. He talks about becoming calm in the midst of the chaos that surrounds all of us in this modern hustle and bustle society. Focus on the breath and just be.
He also talks about the state of affairs in the world of war and peace, where men and masculine energy has started and perpetuates all of the wars in modern history and in the contemporary period.
The Dalai lama strongly believes that this should be the century of women, and that women are naturally and usually more compassionate. While there are examples where this is not the case, there are many more examples of females demonstrating greater concern for others and love for others (and almost every kid and young person will tell you that it’s their mother they run to when they need comfort without discipline).
Importantly to our discussion of the bodhisattva way are two things:
First, the Dalai lama believes his next incarnation will be as a female. It will be the first female Dalai lama in all of history (though not the first female lama overall).
Second, the Dalai lama redeclared his bodhisattva pledge, just in case you never heard it. He declares and promises that for as long as he is needed by humanity to give help, concern, and compassion, he will return, forever if necessary, to help guide others to the path of continuous compassion leading to a more contemplative and pleasant life.
Even if circumstances outwardly are difficult, the Dalai lama teaches how you, too, can achieve inner peace and stillness, bringing calmness to everyday life. Everyone can use the techniques he suggests, regardless of their religious affiliation. That is one thing that has been said about Buddhism: it is additive. Since it is a non deistic religion (not presupposing or worshipping an external deity), the techniques of Buddhism can be used by spiritual seekers on every path.
And for those who find that ‘taking off the coat of your old personality and putting on a new one,’ without any instruction as to how this can be accomplished, to be extremely challenging to the point of impossibility, Buddhism offers a way to actually get to that point. The place where one is at peace, free from anger, ego, and negative emotions while at the same time filled with love and compassion for his fellowmen.
This documentary was quite inspiring and very well made. The flow was great, and the musical accompaniment added to the atmosphere and beauty. The Dalai lama talks to viewers in a very conversational tone, and his words are a testament to the type of contemplative life seeking inner peace that he has lived.
This film is highly recommended, and I would give it five stars.
The following are quotes from the film:
“So I dedicated my body, speech, and mind to well-being of others, to well-being of Tibetans, and well-being of humanity”
“As long as space remains, as long as sentient beings remain, I will remain in order to serve them.”
“Now we should pay more attention how to…how to strengthen the positive emotions. And that automatically reduces negative emotions. Nothing to do with religion.”
“Compassion is the sense of concern of other’s suffering, of others well-being”
“I love myself…but not self-cherishing, but in the sense of ‘I’m just a human being. So, I deserve happiness, I deserve to overcome suffering…”
“Optimism is the basis for our successful life. Always keep thinking, ‘I can make contribution. If I do, then other ten people, hundred people, hundred thousand… that’s the way to do…”
“In reality, everything is interdependent, interconnected…”
“At the same time, real troublemaker is self-centered attitude. “
“I visualize these Chinese officials and take their fear, their anger, their hatred, and give them patience, tolerance, compassion.”
“Each individual should be warmhearted person, sensible person. Then extend your experience, extend love to others.”
“So my friends, you yourself are master of yourself. Disturbances: anger, fear, jealousy, are bound to happen. But only on surface level, come and go. No matter what circumstances, deep inside, you can sustain inner peace, inner calmness, peaceful mind, all the time.”
“Whenever you get some doubt, utilize your human brain maximum way. Combine small brain with warmheartedness. With these two things together, you can fly…So as long as you live, serve others, help others, never bring harm to others.”
“I think, let us, this 21st Century be happy, peaceful, and climatically suitable. That’s in our own hands…” This is the conclusion of the film and his talk, after which he laughs and says, “Thank you.”
See below for information about the film from the producers and distributors:
Executive Producer Richard Gere to be Joined by Ann Curry and Esteemed Panelists Gabby Bernstein and Jerome Foster II for WISDOM OF HAPPINESS: Coast-to-Coast Experiential Screening Event and Live Panel Simulcast To 120+ Theaters Across the U.S. and Canada on October 16
Special Screenings at NYC’s Museum of The Moving Image and 92NY on October 11th With Multiple Nationwide Theatrical Bookings Beginning October 17th
New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Dharamshala, India – October 9, 2025 – Abramorama, in partnership with Theorem Media, today announced the moderator and full lineup of panelists joining Executive Producer Richard Gere for the Wisdom of Happiness coast-to-coast experiential screening event and live panel discussion on Thursday, October 16, 2025. The discussion will be moderated by Emmy Award-winning journalist Ann Curry and will feature Gere alongside The New York Times best-selling author and spiritual leader Gabby Bernstein and youth climate activist Jerome Foster II. The coast-to-coast simulcast will take place in 120+ theaters across the U.S. and Canada, offering audiences a shared experience of the film and its profound message of compassion and joy from the 14th Dalai Lama.
Following the live event, which will be transmitted via the Digital Cinema Distribution Coalition (DCDC Network) in collaboration with Abramorama’s live event partners, producer Susan Jacobs and take2productions, Wisdom of Happiness will open theatrically beginning Friday, October 17, at New York’s QUAD Cinema followed by a North American rollout. The film is qualified in the Best Documentary category for the 98th Academy Awards.
“Having audiences across North America watch together and then share in a live conversation about compassion feels like the truest extension of the Dalai Lama’s work,” said Richard Gere. “Barbara and Philip’s film reminds us that happiness begins with compassion, and compassion begins with a basic warm heart…kindness.”
On October 11th, as part of the awareness campaign around the film the Museum of the Moving Image (MOMI) will host a private screening and Q&A for the pan-Himalayan community in New York. Later that evening, at 7pm, 92NY will present Wisdom of Happiness, followed by an in-depth conversation with Richard Gere as part of their film-talk series “Reel Pieces with Annette Insdorf.” These presentations will highlight the film ahead of its theatrical run which begins with the October 16th simulcast event.
“This beautiful and timely film delivers a message we urgently need to hear,” said Karol Martesko-Fenster, CEO and Owner of Abramorama. “We’re honored to bring this experience to theaters nationwide and to launch a theatrical run across the nation that we believe will resonate deeply throughout awards season and beyond.”
A film by Barbara Miller, Philip Delaquis and Manuel Bauer, and executive produced by Gere alongside Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Oren Moverman, Wisdom of Happiness follows the world’s greatest ambassador of compassion, the Dalai Lama, as he invites audiences along for a journey to the source of happiness. Abramorama, in partnership with Theorem Media, is opening the film in theaters across North America as a component of The Year of Compassion, a global celebration set in motion on the Dalai Lama’s recent 90th birthday.
Since premiering internationally, Wisdom of Happiness has already garnered critical and audience acclaim across territories including Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Greece, Spain, and more. With its mid-October theatrical rollout, the film officially enters the 2025-2026 awards season, having qualified for the Best Documentary Feature category at the Oscars®.
With cinematography by long-time Dalai Lama documentarian Manuel Bauer, the film blends unprecedented access, powerful cinematic visuals, and never-before-seen archival material to provide a once-in-a-lifetime personal audience with the Dalai Lama, delivering calm, clarity, joy and humor from an inspirational global leader.
Guided by the Dalai Lama’s words, the film uses poignant imagery to expose both the beauty and peril of a world shaped by human activity. In the film, he describes the small steps anyone can take to develop their own consciousness in ways that transcend the zeitgeist or political currents of the day. Our awareness can unfold tremendous power through the single most important sentiment according to the Dalai Lama: profound compassion for all living beings.
The Dalai Lama has worked tirelessly throughout his life to inspire a silent, non-violent revolution that continues to challenge people of disparate faiths and persuasions to view politics, globalization, the climate crisis, the importance of having women in leadership positions, and the nature of human relationships in an all-encompassing light.
Wisdom of Happiness (Switzerland, 90 minutes, English/Tibetan) Abramorama, in partnership with Theorem Media, presents a Das Kollektiv für Audiovisuelle Werke and Mons Veneris Films Production. On The Initiative of Walo Kamm. “Wisdom of Happiness”. Executive Produced by Richard Gere, Oren Moverman, Walo Kamm, Tashi Albertini Kaiser, Hanspeter & Monlam Maurer-Adotsang, Tobias Asch and Annette Werenfels and Anne-Marie Le Flanchec. Music by Ariel Marx. Editing by Isai Oswald and Mike Selemon. Cinematography by Manuel Bauer. Produced by Philip Delaquis. Featuring His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Directed by Barbara Miller and Philip Delaquis. Worldwide sales handled by Autlook Films. An Abramorama in Partnership with Theorem Media North American Theatrical Release.
Das Kollektiv für audiovisuelle Werke LLC develops and produces films for cinema and television and carries out co-productions with international partners. We want films with universal appeal that break new ground and are popular at the same time. In particular, we fight passionately for relevant arthouse feature films and innovative documentaries such as the award-winning feature film PARADISE WAR, crowd favorites such as #FEMALE PLEASURE, GURU – Bhagwan, His Secretary & His Bodyguard, YALOM’s CURE, DÜRRENMATT – a love story, E.1027 – Eileen Gray and the House by the Sea and now WISDOM OF HAPPINESS.
www.daskollektiv.ch
Award-winning producer Philip Delaquis and award-winning director Barbara Miller founded Mons Veneris Films LLC in 2014. Mons Veneris Films LLC produces films that center on socio-cultural and critical social themes, with a particular focus on human rights, pressing global issues, and gender relations.
About Odyssey Pictures
Odyssey Pictures is a production company founded by Richard Gere and Oren Moverman in 2024 to collaborate on future film projects. The two have already worked on six films together: Todd Haynes’ I’m Not There, which Gere starred in and Moverman co-wrote. Time out of Mind and The Dinner, which Moverman wrote and directed, and Gere starred in. Joseph Cedar’s Norman, with Gere playing the titular role and Moverman producing Longing, starring Gere, with Moverman executive-producing. And… Wisdom of Happiness, which both executive produced. Odyssey Pictures is currently actively developing several feature film projects.
Abramorama is a leading innovator in worldwide event cinema, theatrical distribution, marketing, and rights management for nonfiction, narrative and music centric films. For more than 25 years Abramorama has provided best-in-class strategic services to Intellectual Property stakeholders including acclaimed filmmakers, major networks, premier record labels, digital platforms and high-profile artists including AARP, Amazon, Laurie Anderson, Apple, Atlantic Records, The Beatles, Concord Music Group, Green Day, Steven Gyllenhaal, HBO, Hulu, Melanie Martinez, MSNBC, National Geographic, Netflix, PBS, Pearl Jam, Dawn Porter, Showtime, SONY, Oliver Stone, Universal Music Group, Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Music, and many more. Through a powerful global network of cinema exhibition partners, digital media channels, cross platform facilitators, and affinity marketing partners, Abramorama
strategically implements a unified distribution and audience activation plan for each title.
About Theorem Media
Theorem Media is a mission driven non-profit that connects the most important stories of our time with audiences that have the capacity to change our future. Guided by a coalition of filmmakers, designers, producers, writers, journalists, activists and philanthropists, Theorem Media invites audiences to participate in ecosystems of change by harnessing the fundamental human desire to experience a good story. Learn more by visiting our website at www.theoremmedia.org
WISDOM OF HAPPINESS
A Heart-to-Heart with the Dalai Lama.
For Anyone Who Needs a Little Peace in our Deeply Chaotic World
CONTINUES BOX OFFICE SUCCESS WITH FIFTH HOLDOVER WEEK AT NYC’S QUAD CINEMA AND SOLD-OUT THEATRICAL SCREENINGS ACROSS THE U.S.A. & CANADA ALONGSIDE MORE THAN A DOZEN LARGE-SCALE VIRTUAL CINEMA OFFERINGS
New York, NY, Los Angeles, CA, Dharamshala, India — November 18, 2025 — Since its launch on October 16, 2025, Wisdom of Happiness, executive produced by Richard Gere and Oren Moverman, continues to exceed expectations with strong audience demand across North America. The film has entered its fifth holdover week at New York’s QUAD Cinema and continues to expand across key markets in in the United States and Canada.
After multiple sold-out runs in the Bay Area, additional screenings have been added to accommodate demand, with tentpole Los Angeles and San Francisco events scheduled for early December. These upcoming presentations will feature special in-person Q&As with Executive Producer Richard Gere, added due to popular demand.
Across the country, theaters have extended engagements following packed screenings and enthusiastic word-of-mouth. Virtual cinema screenings hosted on both GATHR and Kinema have sold out, drawing thousands of viewers to online community-based discussions on compassion and joy – the film’s central themes inspired by the 14th Dalai Lama. Virtual cinema screenings include large-scale events hosted by: Buddhafest/Wisdom for Life (2,073 tickets sold for 11/16 online screening), Daily OM, The Li.st and Equality Now, American Women for International Understanding, National Association of Women Business Owners, Charter for Compassion and Kripalu.
Executive Producers Richard Gere and Oren Moverman stated, “We are thrilled by the extraordinary response audiences are showing for Wisdom of Happiness in theaters and through virtual cinema screenings across North America. To have people gathering — whether in person or on-line — and engaging with His Holiness the Dalai Lama’s message of compassion and joy during these challenging times has been profoundly moving. The sold-out screenings and extended engagements prove to us that audiences are hungry for this kind of meaningful cinema. We’re honored to share this offering with them.
The film is qualified for consideration in the Best Documentary category for the 98th Academy Awards® and continues its U.S. theatrical rollout through Abramorama in partnership with Theorem Media as part of The Year of Compassion, a global initiative celebrating the Dalai Lama’s 90th birthday.The Dalai Lama has worked tirelessly throughout his life to inspire a non-violent revolution that continues to challenge people of disparate faiths and persuasions to view politics, globalization, the climate crisis, and the nature of human relationships in an all-encompassing light.
Directed by Barbara Miller and Philip Delaquis, and executive produced by Gere alongside Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Oren Moverman, the film follows the world’s greatest ambassador of compassion, the Dalai Lama, as he invites audiences along for a journey to the source of happiness. Wisdom of Happiness has screened theatrically to critical and audience acclaim in Switzerland, Germany, Austria, Netherlands, Greece, Spain, Italy, Czech Republic, Hungary, Croatia, and France, with over 250,000 tickets sold.
With cinematography by long-time Dalai Lama documentarian Manuel Bauer, the film blends unprecedented access, powerful cinematic visuals, and never-before-seen archival material to provide a once-in-a-lifetime personal audience with the Dalai Lama, delivering calm, clarity, joy and humor from an inspirational global leader.
Guided by the Dalai Lama’s words, the film uses poignant imagery to expose both the beauty and peril of a world shaped by human activity. In the film, he describes the small steps anyone can take to develop their own consciousness in ways that transcend the zeitgeist or political currents of the day. Our awareness can unfold tremendous power through the single most important sentiment according to the Dalai Lama: profound compassion for all living beings.
Wisdom of Happiness (Switzerland, 90 minutes, English/Tibetan) Abramorama, in partnership with Theorem Media, presents a Das Kollektiv für Audiovisuelle Werke and Mons Veneris Films Production. On The Initiative of Walo Kamm. “Wisdom of Happiness”. Executive Produced by Richard Gere, Oren Moverman, Walo Kamm, Tashi Albertini Kaiser, Hanspeter & Monlam Maurer-Adotsang, Tobias Asch and Annette Werenfels and Anne-Marie Le Flanchec. Music by Ariel Marx. Music Supervisor Bonnie Greenberg. Editing by Isai Oswald and Mike Selemon. Cinematography by Manuel Bauer. Produced by Philip Delaquis. Featuring His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama. Directed by Barbara Miller and Philip Delaquis. Worldwide sales handled by Autlook Films. An Abramorama in Partnership with Theorem Media North American Theatrical Release.
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