Interdit aux chiens et aux Italiens

Hunger and hardship prevail in the Piedmontese mountain village of Ughettera at the beginning of the 20th century. The tolerant farmers complain neither about the parasitic priests nor about the hard winter seasonal work in neighboring France - not even when the Italian state calls them to arms, first to Libya and a little later to the world war. It was only when the fascists arrived that the Ughetto family swapped their homeland for new hardships and new hopes on the other side of the border.

Alain Ughetto has created a warm-hearted memorial to his Italian grandparents Cesira and Luigi with this imaginatively staged puppet animation. With subtle humor, tenderness and empathy, he tells of generations who lived in poverty, but also of happiness and love, of skill and misfortune. "You don't come from a country, you come from your childhood," Cesira teaches him. In the chronicle of the family, the director finds himself and recognizes his preference for working by hand. The film soon becomes a reflection on storytelling with what this hand forms. She herself is always present in the image - when she creates mountains from charcoal and forests from broccoli, or when she is simply handed a cup of damn strong espresso by Cesira.
Christoph Terhechte