The Truffle Hunters
directed by Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw, Greece / USA / Italy 2020, 84'
A magical, charming, heart-warming and humorous film about people who have found their recipe for happiness: for years they have been picking truffles in the forests of Italian Piedmont, accompanied by their dogs. This unique documentary produced by Luca Guadagnino, the director of Call Me by Your Name, has enraptured audiences and critics around the world.
The greatest strength of Dweck and Kershaw's documentary are its protagonists: elderly men who have spent years picking the most precious, white variety of truffle, and at the end of their lives cannot imagine doing anything else. The film also stays in memory because of the dogs that help search for the extremely valuable mushrooms growing deep in the ground. Scenes of human-dog familiarity are juxtaposed with episodes showing aggressive vendors who want to reduce the sophisticated art of truffle picking to mere profit, with no respect for the centuries-old tradition.
[based on the distributor’s materials]
