Massachusetts-based "A Small Good Thing" Explores the New American Dream

How can we live in a better way? While the answer is different for every individual, there are common threads amongst “happy people.” Academy Award®-winning filmmaker Pamela Tanner Boll explores these threads in the new documentary film, A Small Good Thing, premiering April 18 at the Boston International Film Festival with an additional showing on April 20.

A Small Good Thing tells the stories of people who have moved away from the philosophy that “more is better.” Rather, the individuals have centered their lives on a holistic concept of well-being − one based on a close connection to themselves, their community, the natural world, and the greater good. The film follows innovative famers, a social work student who is a veteran, a yogi, and a community activist in their quest to discover success through alternative routes: happiness, compassion, and doing good.

The documentary was produced by Mystic Artists from Winchester, Massachusetts and shot on location in various communities throughout the Berkshires. Adding professional insight to the ‘everyday people’ covered in the film are Bill McKibben, author on climate change; Jeremy Rifkin on the future of energy; Stephen Cope, director of the Institute for Extraordinary Living at Kripalu; Dacher Keltner, positive psychology researcher; and Kristin Neff, a leading expert on self-compassion.

“A Small Good Thing does not pretend to have all the answers,” said Boll. “However, the film asks whether we can change our larger goals as a nation and learn from the rest of the world about the small truths that are the sources of human happiness. The film explores how working in small but meaningful ways, we can overcome obstacles to happiness – to create joy for ourselves and others.”

The film premieres at 5:00 p.m. at the Boston International Film Festival on April 18 with a cast and crew panel discussion following the screening. There will be a subsequent screening on Monday, April 20 at 11:00 a.m. Both screenings are scheduled to be at the BPE Studio at 9A Hamilton Place, Boston. The film has also been officially selected to screen at the Berkshire International Film Festival in May. For information on its premier and additional screening, please visit http://www.bostoniff.org/movie/a-small-good-thing/.