Werner Herzog presents a picturesque documentary about the life of the indigenous people living in the heart of the Siberian Taiga. The camera follows a trapper trough all four seasons of a year. With a commentary written and narrated by Werner Herzog. Siberia extends from Ural to the Pacific and is one and a half times the size of the USA. 38 million people live in this giant area, the majority of them in the prosperous south. In the heart of the Siberian wilderness, deep in the taiga and far away from civilization, 300 people inhabit a small village Bakhtia at the river Yenisei. There are only two ways to reach this outpost: one is by helicopter, the other by boat. Here, deep in the wilderness, there is no telephone available, nor running water or medical aid. The people are on their own. The natives, whose daily routines have barely changed over the last centuries, keep living their lives according to their own cultural traditions. If the human civilization was destroyed, they would survive – thanks to the knowledge of their forefathers…

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Key people

Crew/ Filmmakers
WERNER HERZOG  Writer | Narrator | Executive Producer
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001348

DMITRY VASYUKOV  Director
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3972084

Vladimir Perepelkin  Producer
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm4024803

Nick N. Raslan   Producer
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0711271

CHARLIE WOEBCKEN Producer
Charlie Woebcken is a film producer and President/CEO of Studio Babelsberg and Managing Director of Studio Babelsberg Motion Pictures. The famous Studio Babelsberg, founded in 1912, is the world’s oldest large-scale studio complex and one of Europe’s leading service providers for feature films and TV productions. Among other films he co-produced V FOR VENDETTA, CASINO ROYALE, THE COUNTERFEITERS, which won an Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2007, SPEED RACER, VALKYRIE, THE INTERNATIONAL, THE READER, NINJA ASSASSIN, and recently Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Roman Polanski’s THE GHOST WRITER and Roland Emmerich’s ANONYMOUS. Charlie Woebcken’s further credits as Associate and Executive Producer include AEON FLUX and BLACK BOOK. Before Studio Babelsberg he has served as Vice President of the production and distribution company TV Loonland AG/Munich and as CEO of the former Sony subsidiary Sunbow Entertainment/New York.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1803681

CHRISTOPH FISSER   Producer
Christoph Fisser is a film producer and Vice-President/COO of Studio Babelsberg. In this position he co-produced a number of films. His credits include, among others, THE COUNTERFEITERS and FLAME & CITRON, THE INTERNATIONAL, VALKYRIE, THE READER, NINJA ASSASSIN, and recently Quentin Tarantino’s INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS, Roman Polanski’s THE GHOST WRITER and Roland Emmerich’s ANONYMOUS.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm2862529

Thomas  Nickel   Co-Producer
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0629992

Yanko Damboulev  Executive Producer
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0198667

Timur  Bekmambetov   Executive Producer
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0067457

Klaus Badelt    Executive Producer | Music Composer
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0046004

Joe Bini   Editor
Short bio / http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0082994

Click here to watch the trailer

-Margarita Jimeno

"RFS was an amazing experience from beginning to end and I've learnt far more than I ever could at any conventional film school. Werner's insights have completely transformed my approach to filmmaking."
-Dan Hildred


I got to meet, talk to, and learn from a living legend. To be sure, he was challenging and stern, as expected. "You must be ruthless," is still ringing in my ears. But he was also very generous with his time. Without sounding overly-sappy about it, he encouraged our projects, supported our ideas, and was very effusive with his comments regarding our individual films. It was one of the most memorable encounters of my life so far. Also, the sense of community and camaraderie I felt with my fellow filmmakers was unequaled when compared with all of my past experiences. I didn't feel any sense of jealousy or envy towards them or from them. There was no competition or ass-kissing. I simply and honestly felt proud of my fellow students' very accomplished works and grateful to be in their company. It seemed to me that we were all there for one reason: to study with Werner. And nothing else. I wish the seminar had lasted weeks instead of days.
-Ian Berry


Something very basic is being taught here. Basic, essential and almost unanimously stamped out in every corner of the earth. Herzog's academy is about undoing the damage of brainwashing found everywhere. Wings that have been clipped stand a chance of growing back. And if you haven't grown your balls by the time of graduation- just ask for your money back and crawl into a hole, because nothing is capable of saving you now.
-Nadia Szold


RFS taught me that confidence, persistence and the avoidance of what Werner terms "the culture of complaint" will get your films made.  Not only was this a rare opportunity to pick the brain of a filmmaking genius, but such an creative and inspiring group of rogues.  Thank you Werner for the kick in the ass and your unwavering certainty.  
-Phoebe Brown

To Werner Herzog,

Thank you. What a pleasure I had listening to you during the time spent of the Rogue Film School. I feel I can never thank you enough for allowing me to attend. It was intriguing to sit and listen to experience, optimism, and advice with-out the bullshit which normally accompanies such a venue.

You may have not known, I don't know if anyone did (I try not to whine, bellyache, or complain), but I sat through the RogueFilmSchool with a then recently acquired broken rib. My job as a bouncer had brought me into that circumstance merely a week or two prior. I was having trouble sleeping, still bruised and sore. I remember my pain those sleepless nights... I remember the discomfort sitting on the busses going to and from Koreatown... I recall standing to stretch in an attempt to feel better during the lunch hour in the hotel foyer... but all these months later I do not recall once feeling pain or discomfort during that time sitting with the Rogues in front of you. Don't get me wrong, I am sure I did and was in plenty of discomfort, but I do not remember one instance of such a feeling in that setting. Pain and unease I sometimes find gives me a greater sense of focus, perhaps that was one such occasion.

Thank you. I am very proud to have been part of this. I met great people, even today I am still in touch with some of my fellow Rogues... Maryam, Alfa, Rob, Chuck, I met not only people I wanted to work with, but perhaps friends as well.

I can not express my gratitude in your allowing me to attend despite my then financial situation. I hope to make you proud in the work that I do... that you know that there is someone who cares about the making of their films as opposed to caring of nothing but the signing with the agent cesspools of this industry. I am making the project now that I feel that I must, that I feel is infinitely bigger than myself... it was time, you kicked my ass into action... which I should have been in action anyways. It is a western genre short film entitled: "WOMAN OF THE WEST." It is what I must film. I hope to make you proud with this and what follows.
-Brian Wayne Hodges