Jenny and Russell Jenner are farmers from Kalbar, an outback town in Queensland with a population of under 1000. Seven years of drought has hit their lucerne crop hard.

“We’ve been in drought for a very long time,” says Jenny in this documentary, “it wears people down”. The farm had “come to a halt,” adds Russell. A self-described romantic, Russell bought Jenny some sunflowers one day, and that led to an idea. They switched from lucerne to sunflowers – recognising that sunflowers are a drought-hardy crop.

They also recognised that the sunflower is universally loved, and selfies with sunflowers were all over Instagram. So, the Jenners decided to stage a sunflower festival, and Growing Happiness is a documentary about the journey of the one million sunflower seeds planted on their farm.

Jenny and Russell are likeable, articulate and resourceful. They also have their heart in the right place – not only do they want to bring bright yellow joy into people’s lives and give their town a boost, they also donate the festival’s profits to charity. They’re an inspiring pair.

The story behind launching the sunflower festival is rife with challenges – from torrential rains that break the drought and bog down the growing sunflowers, to hassles with the council, to serious health issues for one of the Jenners. It’s a bittersweet story but one that would have suited a short film format – at almost 90 minutes, the tale of the sunflowers feels stretched and repetitive.

Growing Happiness doesn’t quite tease out the tension from the very real obstacles that the Jenners encounter. Nor does it manage to make a greater point about what climate extremes do to regional Australia, which could have given added substance and helped fill the running time.

That said, the Ukraine (where the sunflower signifies peace) connection, cinematography of the vast acres of sunflowers surrounded by mountains is gorgeous, as is the time-lapse footage of a growing sunflower, and the Jenners are certainly worthy subjects.

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