The Truffle Hunters

"Why don't you get married?" a woman once asked Aurelio, who's well into his eighties. His answer is simple: he's got Birba, the dog he shares his home, his table and his walks in the woods with. 'The Truffle Hunters' follows him and a handful of other old men in Piedmont, in northern Italy, who still head out with their dogs to look for the Alba white truffle, one of the most expensive and sought after foods on the planet. Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw filmed it with no narration, keeping the camera still and at a distance.

Carlo's close to ninety, and his wife keeps shouting for him to come home, but he keeps slipping off into the woods. Sergio goes out with his dog Fiona and can't stand the changes coming to the woods, where some rivals now leave poisoned bait to get competitors' dogs out of the way. Angelo, meanwhile, has given it up, convinced the trade isn't what it used to be.

On the other side are the buyers and dealers, and auctions where a single truffle can go for around $100,000. The hunters keep their secrets the way they always have: nobody admits where they found a truffle, not to their wives, their children or their best friends.

Dweck and Kershaw spent three years shooting, going back to the villages again and again until their subjects forgot the camera was there. To show the woods the way the dogs see them, a shoemaker built head mounts so they could strap a small camera to the dogs. Luca Guadagnino, director of 'Call Me By Your Name', is among the executive producers.

It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, then played Toronto and New York. Most critics loved it, though a few found it too staged, and it made the Academy's shortlist for best documentary feature.

• Documentary