ALEXANDRIA, VA – With the official start of summer right around the corner, the Alexandria Film Festival will help jumpstart that happy feeling which typically accompanies the highly anticipated season by hosting a special FREE SCREENING of the feature documentary Happy. Director Roko Belic, whose 2020 film Trust Me is being recognized at the National Press Club on June 9 with a Walter Cronkite Award for Special Achievement in News Literacy, will attend the screening. Following the film, Belic will take part in a discussion about what really makes people happy with Matthew Leitao, doctoral student in the Digital Health and Happiness Lab at Georgetown University.
“I'm super excited to be back in Alexandria to screen Happy at this Alexandria Film Festival special event. Though most of us usually want to be happy, this feels like a particularly opportune time to evaluate what really brings us joy,” said Belic.
"I look forward to having conversations with everyone about the film and to make the current research on happiness easier to understand for everyone," added Leitao.
Belic’s film Trust Me headlined the 2020 Alexandria Film Festival and won the Joe Cantwell Award for Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking. Genghis Blues, Belic’s debut film as a director in 1999, was nominated for an Academy Award for best feature documentary in 2000.
“We celebrate Roko’s return to Alexandria to help us focus on something that we all most likely want more of in our lives – happiness,” said Alexandria Film Festival Chair Dara Sanders.
WHAT: FREE SCREENING of Happy, followed by film Q&A with Director Roko Belic
WHERE: The Lyceum, 201 South Washington Street, Alexandria
WHEN: June 10, 2023; film at 7:30 pm | REGISTER for free tickets to attend
Attendees will also be treated to an exclusive sneak preview of Belic's new film Lun.
###
About the Alexandria Film Festival
The Alexandria Film Festival brings high-quality short and feature-length films, documentaries, filmmaker panels, and arts presentations to the port city of Alexandria, Virginia and beyond. The festival held annually in November highlights the talents of local, national, and international filmmakers in an acclaimed travel destination within eyesight of the nation’s capital.