Being a huge Werner Herzog fan, it’s a total bonus that such a prolific filmmaker can manage to remain so consistent when it comes to the quality of his output. It doesn’t surprise me that, with the TIFF premiere of his 3D documentary ‘Cave of Forgotten Dreams’ (coinciding with the DVD release of one of the two films he premiered at TIFF last year, ‘My Son, My Son What Have Ye Done?’), Herzog has already started talking about multiple upcoming projects. On the non-fiction side, he’s teaming up with filmmaker Dmitry Vasyukov for a project that will find Herzog working as narrator, writer, producer and editor. ‘Happy People: A Year in the Taiga’ is a feature documentary which focuses on hunters in the Siberian Taiga. Interestingly, this version will be culled from Vasyukov’s original four and a half hour cut of the film (about which I could find no info). Based on the footage in the teaser trailer, it looks to be appropriately epic and should work well with Herzog’s voice supporting it.

On the drama side, Werner is pursuing a biopic on Gertrude Bell, which he describes as “a big epic feature that I’m plowing on.”  This, along with a Texas prison picture, should make for another solid appearance at TIFF 2011!