Mongrel Media Presents
HAPPY PEOPLE: A YEAR IN THE TAIGA
A Film by Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog (94 min., Germany, 2011)
Distribution
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Studio Babelsberg Presents
Happy People A Year In The Taiga
2010 Telluride Film Festival
A Film By Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog A STUDIO BABELSBERG PRODUCTION WRITER AND NARRATOR WERNER HERZOG • DIRECTORS DMITRY VASYUKOV • WERNER HERZOG PRODUCERS CHARLIE WOEBCKEN • CHRISTOPH FISSER • VLADIMIR PEREPELKIN • NICK N. RASLAN • CO-PRODUCER THOMAS NICKEL EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS KLAUS BADELT • TIMUR BEKMAMBETOV • YANKO DAMBOULEV • WERNER HERZOG • MUSIC KLAUS BADELT CAMERA ALEXEY MATVEEV • ARTHUR SIBIRSKI • GLEB STEPANOV • MICHAEL TARKOVSKY • EDITOR JOE BINI
„
Herzog's philosophical narration -- enchanted by this outpost free from phones, taxes and all the trappings of modern life -- elevates Happy People above most nature docs.
“
Variety
Studio Babelsberg Presents
Happy People A Year In The Taiga
A Film By Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog
Synopsis Werner Herzog presents a picturesque documentary about the life of the indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga. With the commentary written and narrated by Herzog, the camera follows a trapper through all four seasons of a year. Siberia extends from Ural to the Pacific and is one and a half times the size of the USA. There are 38 million people that live in this massive area, the majority of them in the prosperous south. In the heart of the Siberian wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit a small village of Bakhtia at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost; one is by helicopter, the other by boat. Here in Bakhtia, deep in the wilderness, there‘s no telephone available, running water or medical aid. The people are on their own. The locals, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own values and cultural traditions. If the human civilization was destroyed, they would survive thanks to the knowledge of their forefathers…
Filmmakers / Crew Werner Herzog
Writer | Narrator | Director | Executive Producer
Dmitry Vasyukov
Director
Charlie Woebcken
Producer
Christoph Fisser
Producer
Vladimir Perepelkin
Producer
Nick N. Raslan
Producer
Thomas Nickel
Co-Producer
Yanko Damboulev
Executive Producer
Timur Bekmambetov
Executive Producer
Klaus Badelt
Executive Producer | Music Composer
Alexey Matveev
Camera
Gleb Stepanov
Camera
Arthur Sibirski
Camera
Michael Tarkovsky
Camera
Joe Bini
Editor
Studio Babelsberg
Production Company
„Continuing his romance with extreme conditions and remote locations, Werner Herzog steps in to overhaul Russian director Dmitry Vasyukov‘s Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, condensing the four-hour, made-for-TV documentary portrait of Siberian fur trappers into a mesmerizing Walden-like ode to wilderness life. As in Grizzy Man, Herzog plays magpie with another filmmaker‘s footage, ruminating throughout on man‘s relationship to nature -- only in this case, these selfreliant subjects possess no delusions about their surroundings (they know how to handle a bear attack).“ Variety
