About

I can't say much more about the project other than that I love these Russians and their dogs, the way they survive by living off the land in their tiny cabins miles from anywhere. They are truly free and happy people, unencumbered by rules, taxes, government, law, bureaucracy, telephones and radios.

The Russian documentarian Dmitry Yasyukov spent a year living with fur trappers along the Yenisei River, in the Siberian taiga, from which he produced four TV documentaries – with each representing one season in their existence. Inspired by this footage, but unsatisfied with its presentation, Werner Herzog worked with Yasyukov to craft a feature length 'international version' of the documentaries.

Re-edited, re-scored, and with a new narration from Herzog, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga is a captivating insight into this group of people and the true independence of their lives in a stunningly beautiful, though unforgivingly remote, landscape.

Ages 12+