Deep in the forests of Northern Italy resides the prized white Alba truffle. Desired by the wealthiest patrons in the world, it remains a pungent but rarified mystery. It cannot be cultivated or found, even by the most resourceful of modern excavators. The only souls on Earth who know how to dig it up are a tiny circle of canines and their silver-haired human companions—Italian elders with walking sticks and devilish senses of humor—who only scour for the truffle at night so as not to leave any clues for others. Still, this small enclave of hunters induces a feverish buying market that spans the globe.

With unprecedented access to the elusive truffle hunters, filmmakers Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw (THE LAST RACE, 2018 Sundance Film Festival) follow this maddening cycle from the forest floor to the pristine restaurant plate. With a wily and absurdist flare, THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS captures a precarious ritual constantly threatened by greed and outside influences but still somehow protected by those clever, tight-lipped few who know how to unearth the magic within nature.

“… visually, it is magnificent, with every scene framed like a gorgeous painting.” (The Spectator)

“It’s a film, in the end, about mortality, culture and economics from a “less is more” philosophy that seems to document nothing while eventually capturing everything.” (Times UK)

“Its gnarled, subterranean subject may be shrouded in a biblical halo, but The Truffle Hunters sublime focus on the natural world and both its flora and fauna inhabitants offers calming reassurance for the unwashed.” (Little White Lies)

Wednesday, August 25
Doors 6:00 pm | Movie 6:30 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.
Advance tickets $15 HERE | $15 at the door

Friday, September 3 Final Screening!
Doors 3:50 pm | Movie 4:10 pm *Start time subject to change. Please arrive on time.
Advance tickets $15 HERE | $15 at the door

Due to reduced capacity, advance tickets are recommended for all shows to ensure seating. Online sales for every screening automatically end 1 hour before any given showtime.

*Minors permitted in the balcony. Must be 19+ w/ID for bar service and main floor seating.
*Rio Theatre Groupons and passes OK for any single film screening only. Please redeem at the box office.
*If you are looking to redeem your tickets to either a canceled Rio Theatre screening or a Rio Theatre gift certificate, please email <[email protected]> with info including your name, canceled receipt number, gift certificate info, what you are wanting to see and when, and we can make the switch for you in advance. Alternately, you can bring this information with you to the venue, and we will do our best to help you at the box office.

THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS (Michael Dweck, Gregory Kershaw / 2021 / 84 mins / Italian with English subs / PG) In the secret forests of Northern Italy, a dwindling group of joyful old men and their faithful dogs search for the world’s most expensive ingredient, the white Alba truffle. Their stories form a real-life fairy tale that celebrates human passion in a fragile land that seems forgotten in time.