SEROTONIN RISING 2010 • Deepak Chopra, David Lynch & Donovan

"The idea for the film SEROTONIN RISING came to me in the year 2000. I was watching a PBS TV special and the narrator read a few lines from a medical study. He said that if you do a good deed for someone your serotonin levels will rise and your immune system will be strengthened. He went on to say that the same thing happens to the recipient of the good deed. The final words on this subject were what really hooked me: Any observer of the good deed will also feel their serotonin rise and have their immune system strengthened. I wrote down a treatment for a future documentary based on those words and filed it for when the time felt right to produce it. A few years later, I came across a study conducted at the National Institutes of Health by Dr. Jordan Grafman . The research proved that the same regions of the brain that were activated when one received money were even more activated when one gave money to non-profit organizations.After reviewing my notes from the PBS special and conducting more research on the topic, I was convinced that people would respond favorably to these findings. I set about contacting Dr. Grafman and other medical experts to confirm the NIH experiments. At the same time, I began interviewing more doctors as well as noted authors, spiritualists, visionaries, religious leaders, mind-body specialists and philosophers. Everyone agreed with the basic premise and many added their own views and advice to the subject. Within six months word spread within the spiritual cinema community about what we were doing and I began to receive calls and e-mails from people wanting to be a part of this production. SEROTONIN RISING took on a life of its own soon after co-producer and writer, Darren Foster , joined me on the production and journey. Darren suggested that we add a dramatic storyline about two television news reporters to the interviews we already conducted. We developed a concept for this unique integration together and Darren wrote the original screenplay. Soon we began acquiring an incredibly talented cast and crew to produce this very unique feature-film.By merging the scientific evidence with a dramatic story and the words of wisdom from our experts, SEROTONIN RISING blossomed into a very special film.When my very talented brother Russell Perri agreed to create some amazing music for our film, we knew we were on the right track. As we watched the interview clips and reviewed stories of altruism and compassion, we all felt something wonderful. It soon dawned on us that we were becoming the "observers" of good deeds and our own serotonin levels were dramatically rising.It was at this point that we decided people needed to see this film and that it could make a positive difference in our world. We are now convinced that this documentary is the World's First Truly 'Feel-Good' Movie."
Tony Perri
Director and Co-Producer

http://www.serotoninrising.com/project/about.aspx






Photo: Reverend Friendly and Wilbur rest on Pearl Street Mall during set-up.
http://www.serotoninrising.com/film/photoPearl.aspx