The Cinematheque

VIFF 2020

Impact | Insights | Special Presentations

Consider the white Alba truffle … its colour, size and shape … It’s still moist? Bene. Lean in, waft the air, savour that unparalleled, ecstatic pungency … If you’re unreasonably wealthy you may even taste a few shavings, for this may be the most expensive condiment in cuisine (last season, over $200 per ounce). The white truffle only grows in the wild, in northern Italy, and always under the ground, so you need a trained dog to root them out. And this is the true heart of Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s sublime movie, not so much the truffle itself— though fungi fetishists will surely be sated on that score— but the relationship between the old men (they all seem to be ancient) who guard the secrets of the truffle patches— and their sniffer dogs, who may be the only beings on earth who truly know them. Exquisitely, rhapsodically photographed (sometimes by the dogs themselves), this is the rare nonfiction film that looks like a work of art. The Truffle Hunters evokes a lingering netherworld from times past, a place of dignity, personality and unforgettable flavour. – VIFF

Language: In Italian with English subtitles
EXEC: Luca Guadagnino, Matthew Perniciaro, Michael Sherman, Lance Acord, Sam Bisbee, Wendy Neu, Christos V.Konstantakopoulos, Regina K. Scully, Patty Quillin, Geralyn White Dreyfous, Molly Lewis, Adam Lewis, Leslie Berriman, Nion McEvoy, Cameron O’Reilly, Jim Swartz, Susan Swartz, Linda Weinman, Bruce Heavin, Jamie Wolf
PROD: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
CAM: Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw
ED: Charlotte Munch Bengtsen
MUS: Ed Côrtes
Production Company: Beautiful Stories