I woke up today thinking about the passing of another year, the dreams we all have about our lives, and how we reconcile who we are with who we’d like to be.

The conclusion is always the same for me: happiness comes mostly from pursuing the dream, not necessarily achieving it. (Though achieving it every now and then is pretty nice too.)

And then I realized this is an idea I continually re-visit and re-discover, and not just on New Year’s Day. In fact, I made a short film about it six years ago. So much for progress…

In January 2008, my short film Beijing Haze premiered at Slamdance before going on to play at SXSW and a bunch of other festivals. But it’s never been available anywhere else.

Today seemed like a good time to change that. You can now watch it for free on my YouTube channel.

Of the shorts I’ve made, this is my favorite. I hope you enjoy it too.

Happy New Year everyone! Let’s all chase our dreams in 2014.