'The Happiness Salesman'

24 Jun 2009
Short film
Dir. Krishnendu Majumdar
Wr. Steve Gomez
Role: The Salesman.



News (most recent first):

• Jun 10 2012 Made available to watch online (link above).
• Oct 31 the short film comes to BBC Two Wales (see post).
• Oct 21, 24 Rhode Island International Horror Film Festival. Also article.
• Aug 14 Rhode Island International Film Festival.
• 'The Happiness Salesman' won the Grand Prize for best narrative short film at the RI festival (news at KaosFilms).
• Apr 22-25 2010 Roving Eye Festival.
• Nov 22 Foyle Film Festival, North Ireland.
• Jun 26 Edinburgh International Film Festival; also shown at Valladolid International Film Festival.
• It has been announced the film will be shown at 2009 Palm Springs International ShortFest (June 23-29), programme On The Job Wednesday, June 24, 1:00 PM. From the festival's site: "Other star-studded shorts include [...] Christopher Eccleston in The Happiness Salesman (UK) [...]" Site's page for the film.
Online reviews:

Caitlyn Downs:
The Happiness Salesman was very effective I thought. Sense of dread throughout. Halloween TV better than I thought.
Pipsytip:
The Happiness Salesman, totally creepy.
Mr E:
The creepy and distressing 'The Happiness Salesman' [Krishnendu Majumdar] followed. This was a great, highly effective little horror story featuring a Faustian Christopher Eccelston giving a young mother the opportunity to change her life and fulfil her dreams.
Fancy Plants:
The Happiness Salesman - A suburban woman lives comfortably with her newborn (and very vocal) child in the house her ex-boyfriend left for her. One day a salesman (played by Christopher Eccleston) comes to the door with a bold claim - he has for sale a DVD with her whole future on it, and as a taster, can choose to peek at any point for free. What comes next I won't spoil, but it's unexpected. A darkly comic tale of how a seed of an idea planted in the mind can affect a persons actions, and will have you thinking about what happens after the credits roll. 7.5/10
Brad Schreiber:
Among the most notable films:
[...] The Happiness Salesman (United Kingdom, dir. Krishnendu Majumdar) Christopher Eccleston, tremendously effective in films like Jude and Elizabeth, struts his stuff as a possible door-to-door Satan who tempts a young women with a constantly crying baby to trade her soul for an ideal future, which he can show her on a laptop. Majumdar nails the creep factor of Steve Gomez's script and raises the hair on the back of the neck with a terrific take on an old theme.




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