THE TRUFFLE HUNTERS (12A, 84 mins)
Released: July 9
IN 2017, a bidder from Hong Kong at the annual Alba White Truffle World Auction paid an eye-watering 75,000 euros for one tuberous specimen weighing 850 grams.
The prized delicacy grows deep in the forests of Piedmont, Italy, for a few months of the year and has stubbornly resisted modern science's efforts at cultivation.
Demand for white truffles increases year on year but supply decreases, impacted in part by climate change and deforestation.
Documentary filmmakers Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw meet a group of men, 70 to 80 years young, who call upon training passed down through generations to hunt the rare white Alba truffle with their dogs.
They jealously guard the secrets of this practice, shunning the trappings of modern life to exist in harmony with the land and their vibrant local community.
OCCUPATION RAINFALL (Certificate TBC, 128 mins)
Released: July 9 in cinemas and streaming
VISUAL effects artists who worked on Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi and Blade Runner 2049 flex their digital muscles in a sci-fi action adventure directed by Luke Sparke, which is a sequel to his 2018 film Occupation.
Otherworldly beings orchestrate a devastating intergalactic invasion of Earth, determined to make the third rock from the sun their new home.
Two years after the invasion, human survivors in Australia have formed a fragile resistance with renegade aliens to fight back against the extra-terrestrial threat in a desperate and bloodthirsty ground war.
These brave soldiers from all walks of life uncover a terrifying plot that could signal the end of mankind forever.
1921 (15, 138 mins)
Released: July 9
TO COINCIDE with the 100th anniversary celebrations of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party, Huang Jianxin and Zheng Dasheng co-direct a state-sanctioned historical drama, which proudly recreates key incidents leading to the creation of the CCP and the party's early years.
This fiercely patriotic and exhaustive history lesson includes the May Fourth Movement, led by CCP co-founder Li Dazhao (Chen Li), and the contributions of co-founder Chen Duxiu (Kun Chen) and party chairman Mao Zedong (Renjun Wang).
