The filmmakers behind the new documentary THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS, released today, via Sony Pictures Classics, have also launched a new initiative to preserve and protect the land in Italy’s Piedmont region where their documentary was shot.

Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw’s visually stunning film is set deep in the forests of Italy’s Piedmont region. The documentary follows a group of truffle hunters as they search for the rare and expensive white Alba truffle—which to date has resisted all of modern science’s efforts at cultivation. Demand for white truffles increases year after year, even as the supply decreases due to climate change, deforestation, and a dwindling supply of young truffle hunters.
 
The Truffle Hunters Land Conservation Program will now provides both funding and strategic support to grassroots organizations in the region working to preserve truffle forests, provide local environmental education and help the truffle hunting community protect Piedmont’s truffle forests.

“During the production of The Truffle Hunters, we came to understand the unique environmental and cultural challenges it faces.” said the filmakers.”Global climate change, local deforestation, and agricultural pollution have resulted in the disappearance of land and the disruption of specific environmental conditions necessary for the truffle to grow. At the same time, digital technology and global culture are transforming the worldview of younger generations leading them to turn away from the older generation’s wisdom and abandon the knowledge of the past. Our goal is to ensure that the cherished truffle hunting tradition and the land it depends on continues for generations to come,”

Click HERE for more information on The Truffle Hunters Land Conservation Program