An intimate dialogue to meet an Italian family history
Photo credit: “Forbidden to dogs and Italians” by Alain Ughetto @Gebeka Films
Through a fictional dialogue between director Alain Ughetto and his grandmother Cesira, “Forbidden to dogs and Italians” retraces with poetry, humor and creativity the journey over three generations of an Italian family exiled in France at the beginning of the 20th century. Presented for the first time at the Annecy International Animation Film Festival, the film was awarded twice the Jury Prize and the Gan Foundation Prize for distribution. It is nominated for the European Film Awards 2022 and was presented at the Locarno International Film Festival this summer. A family testimony of universal significance to be discovered on January 25 at the cinema!
An intimate dialogue to meet an Italian family history
Alain Ughetto is an animated film director. He is at the origin of the highly acclaimed “The ball” (Caesar for Best Animated Short Film 1985) and “Jasmine” (Official Competition Annecy Animation Film Festival 2013). He inherited from his father and his grandfather a pronounced taste for do-it-yourself which he infuses into his cinema through animation, like a vector for exploring the intimate.
With “Forbidden to dogs and Italians”, the fruit of eight years of research and creation, Alain Ughetto uses his art to meet his grandparents and tell their story. Skilfully combining animation and live action, the director weaves a fictional dialogue with his grandmother Cesira (with the voice of Ariane Ascaride) and stages the journey of his ancestors, who left their native Piedmont to settle in France. He poetically recounts the family story: work in the Alps, the ordeal of war, a failed attempt to leave for America and a trip full of hope to France, this land that will be called: “ Heaven”.
Through the history of this Italian family originally from Ughettera, we read that of several million Italian immigrants who left the peninsula to settle in the four corners of the world, particularly in France, during the 20th century.
The movie title, “Forbidden to dogs and Italians”refers to the Italophobia present within French society during the years 1875-1914, in a context of rising European nationalism, recurring diplomatic tensions between France and Italy and crisis on the French labor market .
The creative poetry of a film at the crossroads of the arts
In addition to being a unique and enlightening testimony to European history, “Forbidden to dogs and Italians” is a marvel of creativity.
The film was shot between January 2020 and July 2021 using the stop motion or stop motion technique. The sets for the film were built with Vivement Lundi! in the Rennes studio No one is perfect! (under the direction of production designer Jean-Marc Ogier and costume designer Anna Deschamp), from natural elements collected by the director in Piedmont: thus a broccoli becomes a tree, a squash becomes a house, chestnuts become rocks. The production company Vivement Lundi! is also responsible for the puppets and costumes in the film.
The stop motion was reinforced by 2D images of landscapes and real images shot in Ughettera, the village of origin of the Ughetto in Italy.
The film’s music – sublime – was composed by Nicola Piovani who won the Oscar for best film music in 1999 for “Life is Beautiful” by Roberto Benigni and has worked with some of the greatest Italian directors: Federico Fellini, Mario Monicelli, Michelangelo Antonioni, the Taviani brothers, Nanni Moretti…
“Forbidden to dogs and Italians” is the fruit of an artistic and human encounter: this is what gives the film its richness and its poetry.
Supported by Bretagne Cinéma, the film received financial aid from the Brittany Region (in partnership with the CNC).
Synopsis: Early 20th century, in northern Italy, in Ughettera, cradle of the Ughetto family. Life in this region having become very difficult, the Ughetto dream of starting all over again abroad. According to legend, Luigi Ughetto then crossed the Alps and began a new life in France, forever changing the fate of his beloved family. His grandson retraces their story here.
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