The Truffle Hunters Michael Dweck Gregory Kershaw

IT/USA/GR-2020, 84 Min., OmeU

Regie und Kamera
Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw

Schnitt
Charlotte Munch Bengtsen

Musik
Ed Côrtes

Ton
Stephen Urata

Mit
Paulo Stacchin, Piero Botto, Egidio Gagliardi, Carlo Gonella, Sergio Cauda, Aurelio Conterno, Angelo Gagliardi

Produktion
A Beautiful Stories Production, Go Gigi Go Productions, Bow and Arrow Entertainment, Park Pictures Media Partners, Faliro House Productions, Artemis Rising, Frenesy Film Company

Verleih
Sony Pictures Filmverleih

English
Deutsch

Already tipped as a Documentary Feature Oscar nominee, Dweck and Kershaw’s sensory delight has earned comparisons with current arthouse favorite HONEYLAND since its well-received Sundance bow. Variety critic Tomris Lafly wrote that this Piedmont-shot charmer, like its Bulgarian predecessor, “supplies an adoring lens into the process and long-standing tradition of gathering one of nature’s greatest culinary gifts.”

Ravishing digital cinematography by the directors themselves conjures this damp, thickly forested corner of north-west Italy in all its glory. The magical terrain, unspoiled by progress and only lightly grazed by modernity, serves as a rich backdrop for an engaging character-study of the (mainly) elderly gentlemen who put decades of expertise to use in search of a most elusive and expensive delicacy.

Executive-produced by Luca Guadagnino, the film is also a winning tribute to the tender bond between these engaging seniors and their four-legged helpers, whose hyper-sensitive noses sniff out the fabled Alba White Truffle, tuber magnatum. The human focus here may be squarely on men, but it’s their beloved female collaborators Fiona, Titina, and Birba who prove “best in show.” (Neil Young)

Der weiße Trüffel aus den Wäldern Norditaliens wird von Feinschmeckern, Gastronomen und Reichen in der ganzen Welt begehrt. Dweck und Kershaw zeigen in ihrem Dokumentarfilm beide Seiten der Trüffelwelt: Die bescheidene Lebensweise der alten Männer und ihrer Hunde, die in der Erde wühlen, um den Trüffel zu finden; und die nachts losziehen, um ihre Fundorte nicht zu verraten. Dagegen die Händler, die Auktionen, ein überhitzter Markt. Klimawandel, Neid und kriminelle Konkurrenz bedrohen die alte Tradition des Trüffeljagens. Ein melancholischer Film über das Altwerden, das Ökosystem, den Kapitalismus und vor allem über die Beziehung alter Männer zu ihren Hunden. (Maria Marchetta)