News

For his latest cinematic adventure, iconoclastic auteur Werner Herzog is tackling a subject close to his heart: his bond with travel writer Bruce Chatwin, who passed away in 1989 after privately fighting HIV for five years. The pair were already long-time friends at that point, but even decades after Chatwin’s death, Herzog’s affection and respect for the fellow artist remains deep. Chatwin is still considered one of the UK’s best loved authors, and his work, including seminal books like “The Songlines” and “In Patagonia,” has long been credited with helping to revive the once-staid genre of travel writing.

Per the film’s official synopsis: “Werner Herzog turns the camera on himself and his decades-long friendship with the late travel writer Bruce Chatwin, a kindred spirit whose quest for ecstatic truth carried him to all corners of the globe. Herzog’s deeply personal portrait of Chatwin, illustrated with archival discoveries,...

Music Box Films has acquired U.S. rights to Werner Herzog’s Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin, the filmmaker’s latest documentary the bowed earlier this year at the Tribeca Film Festival and later played Telluride. A spring 2020 theatrical release is planned.

When famed In Patagonia writer and adventurer Bruce Chatwin was dying in 1989, he gave Herzog the rucksack he’d carried on his travels around the world. Thirty years later, Herzog carries the rucksack on his own epic journey, inspired by their shared passion for the nomadic life, making and documenting his discoveries and the characters he met along the way.

Music Box Films previously distributed Dmitry Vasyukov and Herzog’s 2013 documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga.

The Nomad deal was negotiated by Music Box president William Schopf and Sideways Films’ Kazz Basma.

Werner Herzog’s feature documentary “Nomad: In the Footsteps of Bruce Chatwin,” which world premiered at Tribeca and played at Telluride, has been picked up for the U.S. by Music Box Films.

“Nomad” takes the viewer on a journey through the creative and personal vision Herzog shared with iconic travel writer and adventurer Bruce Chatwin, the author of “In Patagonia,” who championed a nomadic lifestyle.

Music Box Films, which also distributed Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog’s 2013 documentary “Happy People: A Year in the Taiga,” is planning to release the documentary theatrically in select cities next spring, followed by a rollout on home entertainment platforms.

In the film, Herzog discovers stories of dinosaurs, lost tribes, aboriginal traditions, wanderers and dreamers, traveling from Patagonia to the Black Mountains of Wales and the Australian outback.

“We are delighted to be working with Music Box Films for the U.S. distribution of...

★★★☆☆

Having already screened to receptive audiences at last year's London Film Festival, Sarah Gavron's Village at the End of the World (2012) hits UK cinemas this week, and celebrates the hardy inhabitants of Niaqornat - a tiny community located in the furthest reaches of Northern Greenland. Faced with long winters and cool, bracing summers, the people of Niaqornat face a daily struggle to thrive so close to the Arctic Circle, with a dwindling population a sign of just how difficult life has become for those who remain. Yet, whilst Gavron rightly lauds such heroics, there is a sense that we're merely observing, rather than scrutinising, the issues at hand.

Concentrating on several villagers - ranging from bored, hormonal teenage shopkeeper Lars to Niaqornat's charming oldest resident, Annie - Gavron's film focuses firmly on the human narrative of life in the freezer. Divided into seasonal chapters, Village at the End of...

The contest is over! And, chosen by Random.org, the winners are …Anita, Elman and wendy b! Congratulations! Please email your mailing address to lhlerman@gmail.com by May 15 to claim your prize. Thank you to everyone who entered. Watch out for other giveaways soon.

For his latest documentary film, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, the great Werner Herzog (Cave of Forgotten Dreams) actually used someone else’s material to fuel his obsessive examination of man and nature and those unique places in the world where the two meet head-on.

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga is actually a edited-down version of a four-hour-long Russian television documentary by Dmitry Vasyukov, framed with Herzog’s patented quirky narration. The film follows the lives of the hunters, trappers and fishermen of the small Siberian village of Bakhta through all four seasons of the year—from the winter, when the...

Director Werner Herzog has had a sad last couple of weeks, with the loss of his friends film critic Roger Ebert and documentarian Les Blank. Below, Herzog's thoughts on Ebert on Charlie Rose (he joins critics A.O. Scott and Dana Stevens), with quote highlights. Here is a recent remembrance of Blank in the New Yorker (Toh! contributor Joe Leydon's interview with Blank in 1982 on "Burden of Dreams," his documentary on Herzog's chaotic Fitzcarraldo shoot, is here). Herzog, now 70, is one of those rare directors who possesses a brilliant talent for narrative and documentary filmmaking alike, and remains both prolific and an adventurous world-traveler in his older age. His most recent big-screen entry, "Happy People: A Year in the Taiga," which he co-directed with Dmitry Vasyukov, is an absorbing, season-by-season chronicle of hunters and trappers in the Siberian Taiga; alas, it had a run so brief, most cinephiles probably blinked and missed it.

Happy People: A Year In The Taiga was originally a 4-hour documentary made for Russian Television by filmmaker Dmitry Vasyukov about fur trappers living in a remote part of Siberia. It was reportedly an epic, if fairly routine nature account centering on the lives of the indigenous people of the village of Bakhtia at the river Yenisei in the Siberian Taiga. Vasyukov’s camera followed them over a period of one year and showed how these natives, whose lives revolve around fur trapping, have barely changed over the last centuries. With no interference from, and barely any access to, the civilized world, they have lived their lives according to nothing but their own cultural traditions (and a weakness for Russian Vodka).

Vasyukov’s filmmaking style is simple and matter-of-fact. He follows the natives training their dogs, building their boats and setting their traps, giving the audience a clear sense of...

In yet another intriguing entry into Werner Herzog's documentaries about man versus nature, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga travels deep into the Siberian Taiga to a remote fur trading village called Bakhtia. Similar to his approach to Grizzly Man, Herzog was not present when any of this footage was shot. After the fact, he happened upon a series of four fully-immersive, ethnographic documentaries about trappers in the Siberian Taiga shot by Russian videographer Dmitry Yasyukov; Herzog then helped shape that footage into what eventually became Happy People: A Year in the Taiga. Next, Herzog added his unique brand of philosophical ramblings to the "narration" of the film, developing a focused message about individualism, thus developing Happy People into a very Herzogian film. Yasyukov studiously follows a few trappers who -- despite having families -- spend a majority of their lives alone in the frozen wilderness. Their lives...

Rating: 3.5/5.0

Chicago – In an age increasingly dominated by electronics and man-made comforts, it can be difficult to remember that there are still parts of this spinning planet that are driven by mother nature. One documentarian long-fascinated with the way man interacts with nature is Werner Herzog and he brings his latest, “Happy People: A Year in the Taiga,” to the Music Box Theatre this weekend. It’s a minor film from a major director but it’s still a strong one for those interested in its subject matter — how people can still co-exist with and live off the land instead of ignoring or abusing it.

Werner Herzog & Dmitry Vasyukov present the story of the indigenous people of an area of Siberia so distant that it can only be reached by helicopter or boat, and the latter is only possible for the less-than-half of the year that the river is not frozen.

Title: Happy People: A Year in the Taiga Directors: Werner Herzog and Dmitry Vasyukov Director Werner Herzog has lived life as a sort of cinematic pirate, striking out to and fro, and using the medium of film more often than not to satisfy his immense, globe-spanning curiosities, in both narrative features (“Fitzcarraldo,” “Rescue Dawn”) and documentaries (“Cave of Forgotten Dreams”). A stirring meditation on the human spirit in extreme conditions, and a work of a certain piece with his nonfiction explorations “Grizzly Man” and “Encounters at the End of the World,” Herzog and Russian co-director Dmitry Vasyukov’s “Happy People: A Year in the Taiga” delves into the lives of trappers and indigenous [ Read More ]

The post Happy People: A Year in the Taiga Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

DVD Release Date: April 23, 2013

Price: DVD $ 29.95

Studio: Music Box

Renowned filmmaker Werner Herzog (Cave of Forgotten Dreams), in cooperation with Russian director Dmitry Vasyukov , once again journey to the far ends of the world in the 2010 documentary film Happy People: A Year in the Taiga

The tiny village of Bakhta in Siberia, one of the most beautiful yet severe places on the planet, is home to some 300 indigenous inhabitants whose lives are virtually untouched by modernity. Located at the heart of the Siberian Taiga on the banks of the Yenisei River, Baktha has no telephones, no running water and no medical aid—it’s actually so far away from civilization that it can only be reached by helicopter or boat. In Bakhta the local population of hunters, fishermen and trappers embark on daily routines using tools, materials and methods that have barely changed over the past centuries.

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga...

A man said to the universe:

"Sir, I exist!"

"However," replied the universe,

"The fact has not created in me

"A sense of obligation."

--Stephen Crane

&nbsp

That man can be found at the center of Werner Herzog's films. He is Aguirre. He is Fitzcarraldo. He is the Nosferatu. He is Timothy Treadwell, who lived among the grizzlies. He is Little Dieter Dengler, who needed to fly. She is Fini Straubinger, who lived in a land of silence and darkness since she was 12. He is Kaspar Hauser. He is Klaus Kinski. He is the man who will not leave the slopes of the Guadeloupe volcano when it is about to explode. He is those who live in the Antarctic. She is Juliana Koepcke, whose plane crashed in the rain forest and she walked out alive. He is Graham Dorrington, who flew one of the smallest airships ever built...

It's another cold and depressing January weekend as we have three major releases hitting theatres, only one of which actually screened for critics. Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters may seem the most likely to be a hit based on Jeremy Renner's involvement, but the horror-comedy genre rarely goes over well with mainstream moviegoers. The comedy anthology film Movie 43 also has some pretty big names, but the title is terrible and it feels like something that should have gone the VOD route. As for Parker, it looks like just another middle-of-the-road Jason Statham action flick. In select theatres, keep an eye out for Don Coscarelli's trippy horror fantasy John Dies at the End and the documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, which is produced and narrated by Werner Herzog. What will you be watching this weekend? Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters Movie 43 Parker John Dies at the End...

Here is the first trailer for director Werner Herzog’s upcoming documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga. He takes us deep into the Siberian wilderness to show us a small group of indigenous people who live in the harsh environment. The visuals you expect from a Herzog doc are here; I recommend checking out Cave of Forgotten Dreams or Grizzly Man for more examples.

Happy People: A Year in the Taiga will open in theaters on January 25th.

Deep in the Siberian wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit the small village of Bakhta at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost: by helicopter or boat. There‘s no telephone, running water or medical aid. The locals, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, live according to their own values and cultural traditions. Withinsightful commentary written and narrated by Herzog,...

After spending time the jungle to film Fitzcarraldo, legendary director Werner Herzog came away from the experience with the unique perspective that instead of being a landscape that represents life and beauty, the lushness of the jungle was an obscene, vile place that exhibited interconnection only in its collective murder. Given his apparent distaste for the jungle’s denseness, which leads to the screeching of the birds and the screaming of the trees, maybe he would have a better time traveling in the frozen vastness of Siberia? Seeing as that’s where he’s gone to film his latest documentary, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, we’re likely to get our chance to find out. We’re going to have to wait until the film is actually released to get his full impressions of this gigantic expanse of wilderness, however, because while the film’s new trailer does open with the soothing sounds of that...

This week's News Bit bring a little bit of everything, from new clips, images, release dates, some blu-ray news, and not just a little fan service. Come on in to check out all the little news worth checking out in the film industry from the last couple weeks!

The world of movies is packed with tons of news both big and small. Sometimes the smaller pieces of information fall through the cracks, or we come acorss amazing articles from fellow movie journlaists that we feel are worth bringing to your attention. Thus, we have News Bits as a place to compile all of those things into one neat and tidy package. If you've got a picece of news, interesting articles, or even unique art related to movies that you think should be featured in News Bits, be sure to let us know by shooting and email to jordan@cinelinx.com.

Filmmaker Werner Herzog is known as much for his documentaries as he is known for his feature films, with recent documentaries such as Grizzly Man and Encounters at the End of the World garnering attention and acclaim, both for their subject matter, and for the display of Herzog’s skill. When news was announced of a new documentary, thus, many were excited to see what the filmmaker would explore next. The film, titled Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, sees Herzog share directing duties with Dmitry Vasyukov, in an exploration of the life of the indigenous people of Bakhtia, a region in Siberia. The first trailer for the movie has now been released, and can be seen below.

(Source: /Film)...

I don't know about you, but I love listening to Werner Herzog narrate the documentaries that he makes. We've got the first trailer for the next doc that he wrote and directed called Happy People: A Year in the Taiga. It's packed full of some amazingly beautiful visuals. Here's the synopsis...

With Happy People, Werner Herzog takes viewers on yet another unforgettable journey into remote and extreme natural landscapes. The acclaimed filmmaker presents this visually stunning documentary about the life of indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga.

Deep in the Siberian wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit the small village of Bakhta at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost: by helicopter or boat. There‘s no telephone, running water or medical aid. The locals, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, live according to their own values and cultural traditions.

If you love Werner Herzog as much as I love Werner Herzog, then this trailer for his newest film, Happy People: A Year In The Taiga is for you. If you don’t love Werner Herzog, there’s obviously something wrong with you, because Werner Herzog, as well as being one of the finest filmmakers of our age, is also just awesome.

Being awesome does not necessarily mean that you make great movies – although in this case, it does. The new trailer for Herzog and Dmitry Vasyukov’s documentary Happy People: A Year In The Taiga, about the indigenous people of a remote area of Siberia, is simply stunning. More adjectives? Beautiful. Transcendent. Epic. Cold. And this is just the trailer.

Happy People: A Year In The Taiga has been making the festival rounds for awhile now, but we’re finally going to get it on the big screen come January 25 – if,...

The first trailer and poster for the great German filmmaker Werner Herzog’s upcoming documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga have been released online.

Herzog’s risked his life to make films, been shot at, and his latest documentary Into the Abyss investigates a triple homicide, but this time he completes a project that actually includes the word ‘happy’ which suggests that people could be happy with what they have even in unbearably cold place like Siberia.

Herzog (Jack Reacher) approached it in the manner of his previous Cave of Forgotten Dreams or Grizzly Bear with his great voiceover as well as gorgeous visuals. He centers on a small population that lives in a huge Siberian tundra, the 300-person village of Bakhta, on the river Yenisei, capturing a slice of life in an area of the world most people have probably never heard of.

It’s utterly hypnotic,...

Music Box Films has debuted the first trailer and new photos for director Werner Herzog's documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga. The filmmaker takes us to the remote Siberian village of Bakhta, where 300 fur trappers live in harmony, going without things that we take for granted, such as telephones, running water, and medical supplies. Take a look at this new footage and photos to immerse yourself in this unorthodox landscape.

Happy People: A Year In The Taiga - Trailer

With Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, Werner Herzog takes viewers on yet another unforgettable journey into remote and extreme natural landscapes. The acclaimed filmmakerpresents this visually stunning documentary about the life of indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga.

Deep in the Siberian wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit the small village of Bakhta at the river Yenisei. There are only two...

After spending December evilly trying to prevent Jack Reacher from reaching for jacks, Werner Herzog is back doing what he does best: making documentaries about man's relationship to nature. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, which will premiere in select theaters later this month, focuses on Bakhta, the 300-person Siberian village at the river Yenisei. The documentary follows a "Siberian [trapper] through all four seasons of the year to tell the story of a culture virtually untouched by modernity." And there will be a shot of albino crocodiles for no reason. Okay, there probably won't be, but there might — you know never know with Werner Herzog.

Though he may have just played the villain opposite Tom Cruise in Christopher McQuarrie's Jack Reacher, Werner Herzog's first love has always been documentary films. We've just been sent the trailer for his latest film, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, in which the filmmaker turns his lens on a small population that lives in a huge Siberian tundra. It doesn't appear to have any sort of larger agenda other than capturing a slice of life in an area of the world most people have probably never heard of, and it's totally captivating and utterly hypnotic. It's everything that we've come to expect from Herzog. Watch this! Here's the trailer for Werner Herzog's Happy People: A Year in the Taiga from YouTube: Deep in the Siberian wilderness, leagues away from civilization, a mere 300 people inhabit the village of Bakhtia on the river Yenisei. This outpost can...

The first trailer and poster for director Werner Herzog’s upcoming documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga have been released online. The film takes place deep in the Siberian wilderness and focus on a small group of indigenous people who live in the harsh environment. This trailer promises yet another great Herzog voiceover as well as some gorgeous visuals, and I’m interested to see how the full film turns out. If you liked Herzog’s Cave of Forgotten Dreams or Grizzly Man, odds are this one will be right up your alley. Hit the jump to watch the trailer. Happy People: A Year in the Taiga will open in theaters on January 25th. Here’s the official synopsis for Happy People: A Year in the Taiga: With Happy People, Werner Herzog takes viewers on yet another unforgettablejourney into remote and extreme natural landscapes. The acclaimed filmmakerpresents...

Music Box Films has released a new trailer for the upcoming documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga and you can check it out in the player below. The film, from Werner Herzog and Dmitry Vasyukov, offers an exploration of the beautiful, harsh and elemental world of Siberian trappers living in Taiga. Deep in the wilderness, far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit the small village of Bakhtia at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost: by helicopter or boat. There.s no telephone, running water or medical aid. The locals, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, live according to their own values and cultural traditions. Herzog, condenses and re-cuts Russian filmmaker Dmitry Vasyukov.s original 4-hour production....

It’s not often that filmmaker Werner Herzog completes a project that actually includes the word “happy” in even its synopsis, let alone its title, but there’s apparently a first time for everything (after all, this is the guy who made no less than two films about death row in the span of a year). In his Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, Herzog and co-director Dmitry Vasyukov explore the indigenous people who live in the Siberian Taiga. Who knew people could be happy in Siberia, of all places? The documentary centers on the lifestyle of the people who live in the tiny village of Bakhtia at the river Yenisei. Only three hundred or so Siberians live there, and Bakhtia is only reachable by helicopter or boat (one does not simply walk into Bakhtia). Of course, being so cut off from modern civilization has its pluses – mainly, that you don’t have to deal with...

0:00 - Intro 11:28 - Headlines: The Dark Knight Rises Teaser Poster, Chris Benoit Biopic 20:34 - Review: The Sitter 38:56 - Trailer Trash: The Three Stooges 44:48 - Other Stuff We Watched: Ufc, Community, 30 Rock, Warrior, Crazy Stupid Love, The Road, Animal House, Rango, Demolition Man, Over the Top, M, The River Wild, Happy People: A Year in the Taiga, A Face in the Crowd, The Four Feathers, The Killing 1:19:30 - Junk Mail: Movie Magazines and the Lone Wolf and Cub Series, Blu Ray Technical Specs and Missing Movie Songs, Favourite Michael Fassbender Performances, Top Albums of the Year, Schindler's List Blu Ray, Music Re-Appropriation, TV Parodies of Famous Film Scenes, 3D Re-Releases 1:43:53 - This Week's DVD Releases 1:46:20 - Outro

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★★★★☆ From directors Dmitry Vasyukov and Werner Herzog - and thanks to DVD distribution from Second Sight - comes 2010 feature documentary Happy People: A Year in the Taiga (2010), an affectionate look at the lives of those who live and work in the remote Siberian wilderness. Herzog has produced some extraordinary factual films over the past two decades, and whilst Happy People may not quite reach the same heights of awe-inspiring beauty of Encounters at the End of the World (2007), it certainly sits well within the unique director's oeuvre. Read more »...

Celluloid Dreams, the Sales Agent and Production Co. based out of Paris have got a pair of films playing in the festival's line-up in the closing night film Honore's Beloved and the Ucr selected Loverboy from Romania. The top title in our books is Marjane Satrapi's Chicken with Plums which is currently in post and would currently be a contender for a Venice slot and Frederick Wiseman's next docu (see pic above) and an Italian number from Marco Bellocchio called Sorelle Mai. Here is their menu items: Beloved (Les Bien-AIMÉS) by Christophe HONORÉ - Completed Greetings To The Devil (Saluda Al Diablo De Mi Parte) by Carlos Esteban Orozco - Completed Loverboy by Catalin Mitulescu - Completed Another Silence by Santiago Amigorena - Post-Production Atrocious by Fernando Barreda Luna - Completed Bullhead (Rundskop) by Michaël R. Roskam - Completed Chicken With Plums (Poulet Aux Prunes) by Marjane Satrapi...

There are still plenty of "to be announced" surprise films including Danny Boyle's 127 Hours that will be unveiled hours before they screen, but for the most part, this year's Telluride festival can claim the North American premiere status away from Tiff on a large number of Cannes items (this includes Michelangelo Frammartino's must see, still unsold, docu-essay Le Quattro Volte) and they can also claim first dibs on world preems for acquisition titles such as: Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal's Chico and Rita (see pic above), Justin Chadwick's audience tickler The First Grader, the Dmitry Vasyukov with Werner Herzog doc Happy People: A Year in the Tagia and Errol Morris' Tabloid. Attention worthy selections include the world premeire for The Way Back - Peter Weir will also be on hand to receive the Silver Medallion award, as will Colin Firth. The high profile indie studio showcases,...

While Toronto International Film Festival, Sundance, Venice and Cannes sets film schedules well in advance, Telluride always springs its fest lineup at the last moment. Here it is: 37th Telluride Film Festival Announces 2010 Festival Lineup Telluride, Co – Telluride Film Festival (September 3-6, 2010), presented by the National Film Preserve is proud to announce its 2010 Festival program. Twenty-four new feature films presented by their creators in the Festival’s main program; six programs curated by 2010 Festival Guest Director Michael Ondaatje; twenty-five new short films; plus thirteen documentaries screening in the Backlot program. Celebrating works from over twenty countries, Telluride Film Festival opens Friday, September 3 and runs through Monday, September 6, 2010. The ‘Show’ 37th Telluride Film Festival is pleased to present the following new feature films to play in the ‘Show’: · A Letter To Elia (d. Martin Scorsese and Kent Jones, U.S., 2010) · Another Year (d. Mike Leigh, U.K., 2010) · Biutiful (d. Alejandro González Iñárritu,...