“No Dogs or Italians Allowed” by Alain Ughetto

Film screening | Free with registration.

In a fascinating animation in claymotion, the true story of Cesira and Luigi, a couple of Italian immigrants who in the ’20s escape poverty by passing the border of the Alps and create a family in France. A story of migration that tells of dreams, future and hope of a generation not so distant from our own.

Director Alain Ughetto said: “Before dying, my father told me about a village, in Piedmont, where all the people had our family name. Intrigued by this misterious origin, I crossed the Alps and went to Ughettera, the land of the Ughettos. Who were they? How did they live? What forced them to leave and where did they go?”

By the testimonies of the Piedmontese farmers born in the late 19° century, Ughetto recalls his grandfather’s path, born in the same place at the same time, emigrated to France as thousands of other Italians did. In his laboratory he brings back to life this lost world, this rural culture which was also his grandparents’ one, and has been called by Nuto Revelli “the world of the defeated”.

Putting his hand into the modelling clay, discovering their work gestures, finding out how they lived and survived, Ughetto wonders about the work of his own hands. What has been left of them, of their techniques, their know-how, their land, their language, their culture? What is still alive in him, of this lost world?

The screening is presented on the occasion of Europe Day, celebrated every year on May 9th on the anniversary of the signing of the Schuman Declaration, and represents the importance of the concepts of peace and unity. Alain Ughetto’s film invites us to reflect on how the creation of the European Union has changed the idea of mobility between countries and the perception of borders.

Genre: Animation
Year: 2022
Country: France/Italy/Belgium/Switzerland/Belgium
Duration: 70′
Language: Italian and French, with English subtitles