“The Truffle Hunters”, the story of the trifolao from tonight on the big screen also in the provinces

By Delinda

Presented a few days ago at the 39th Turin Film Festival and with a special premiere in San Damiano d’Asti (where directors Gregory Kershaw and Michael Dweck received the keys to the city), The docufilm “The Truffle Hunters”, shot entirely between 2017 and 2019 in the hills of Langa and Monferrato, made its debut yesterday in Italian cinemas. And, from tonight on the big screen also in the province, from Alba (Cityplex) to Bra with the Vittoria cinema, Borgo San Dalmazzo (Cinelandia), Fossano (I Portici) and Savigliano (Cinecittà).

Co-produced by Luca Guadagnino, the film was created to tell the world about the mysterious universe of “truffle hunters, whose stories form a real-life fairy tale that celebrates human passion in a fragile land that seems forgotten over time”, explained director Dweck. A film that has become a real case, testimony of a tradition that has made all American and world audiences fall in love with it. Starting with festivals like Robert Redford’s Sundance in Utah, and then Cannes, Toronto, New York. With crew and operators in tow, between inspections and filming with the collaboration of the National Center for Studies on the Truffle and thanks to the Turin Film Commission, it took the documentary makers three years to compose the precise cinematographic mosaic of the four trifulau experts engaged in their daily (and nocturnal) hunt for the white gold of Langa, between the hills of Roddino, Santo Stefano Belbo, Cisterna d’Asti and Montegrosso d ‘ Asti.

Among the “truffle hunters” protagonists, accompanied by the faithful dog Birba, there is also Ciro Conterno, for all Aurelio di Roddino, who died at 85 in the summer of 2020, to whom the Municipality of the small village dedicated a tribute last Sunday with the participation of directors Kershaw and Dweck. In a story that is also one of “resistance”, “The Truffle Hunters” touches on delicate issues such as the generational change, deforestation and climate change that make it increasingly difficult to search for the most precious truffles, with the desire to donate a small part of the proceeds from the projections for environmental projects aimed at truffle hunters. From 26 to 30 November the film will also be shown at the Multilanghe cinema in Dogliani.