Stealing food which was meant to be yours. Using often illegal taxis as a delivery service, and the drivers as a town’s yellow pages. Making car accessories out of domestic objects. Switching car parts to avoid road tax. Driving a taxi and milking goats with a university degree. Russia’s informal economy is booming. Everyone is an entrepreneur. You need to be in order to survive. Filmed in the wake of the Ukraine conflict in an ordinary Russian town, The Champagne Drinkers offers a human perspective on Russia’s informal economy from the backseat of a taxi, revealing the bizarre survival techniques people have developed, not because, but in spite of their government. ‘One who does not take risks, does not drink champagne’. A popular Russian saying