Down to Earth
THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS I Men and mutts sniff out rare fungi in a magical continental doc.
This fungus can sell for almost the price, per kilogram, of gold,” says Gregory Kershaw, co-director of The Truffle Hunters. Also known as The Diamond of the Kitchen, the white truffle is a coveted delicacy because it can’t be cultivated, and is harvested almost exclusively in Piedmont, Italy during a brief winter window. The truffle may be irresistibly alluring to the wealthy, but The Truffle Hunters locates even greater intrigue in the half-a-dozen men (and their dogs) with the skills to unearth them.
“We stumbled upon this world,” recalls co-director Michael Dweck. Dweck and Kershaw visited Piedmont following the release of their stock-car documentary The Last Race in 2018, and were besotted with what they describe as a “fairytale world frozen in time”. And the directors caught the scent of a story after noting the extreme secrecy that surrounded the region’s prized fungus.
“It’s almost like being in Sicily, and asking somebody, ‘Do you know where I can find a mobster?’” Dweck laughs. “Eventually, someone took us outside, pointed up to the mountains, and said, ‘There are these men at night. No one knows who they are. But they’ve been there for hundreds of years. They have these dogs. They find these truffles.”
Learning about the existence of the small cadre of Piedmont truffle hunters was one thing, but earning their trust was another entirely, and required months of delicate relationshipbuilding. It was also during this time that Dweck and Kershaw developed the film’s striking aesthetic – a series of static camera tableaus so immaculately composed they wouldn’t look out of place in a Wes Anderson movie.
“We felt like we were moving through a storybook: the way it looks, the personalities we encountered,” Kershaw says. “That’s how we share with the audience what we’re feeling.” Adding to the magic is the remarkable bond between the men and their dogs, who don’t just hunt truffles together, they’re practically co-dependent. “Most hunters don’t have children,” Dweck explains. “A lot of them are single because they’re fit and outlast their wives. So it’s an intimate relationship that the truffle hunters have, not only with nature but with their animals.”
In stark contrast to the men and their dogs scrambling around in the dirt, the film also explores the extravagant world of truffle distribution and – in one delectable sequence – consumption. “There’s this incredible absurdity we were struck by,” says Kershaw. “Alba, 15km away, is where you go if you want to have truffles prepared by a Michelin-star chef. When you compare that to the people we’re filming… it’s mind-boggling to put them on the same planet.” JF
ETA | 9 APRIL / THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS OPENS NEXT MONTH.