Alain Ughetto is a French born animator and filmmaker who, in this his second feature film, Interdit aux Chiens et aux Italiens (No Dogs No Italians), has created a deeply personal homage to his Italian predecessors.
The beautifully constructed stop motion film, that was 9 years in the making, charts the economic migration and eventual escape from Fascist rule across the Alps to France of the Ughettos in the late 19th century from the village that gave them their name, Ughettara. At the centre are his grandparents Luigi and Cesira. Ughetto tracks their time together from being shy young lovers to becoming parents through their hard life when Cesira ‘worked like a man’ in Luigi’s time as a soldier during two wars.
Despite the hardship of their lives during war and peace time, love and consideration features strongly throughout. Luigi’s kindness to his children when he tells them that the sign saying ‘No Dogs No Italians’ is just a warning that the dogs might bite Italians and Cesira encouraging her family, who became naturalised French in 1939, to blend in as much as possible as immigrants are testament to that. When her animator grandson asks if she feels Italian or French, her apt reply ‘A person is not from a country [but]…from a childhood’ speaks volumes of that love.
From the start, Ughetto draws attention to the manual element of his art with close ups of the drilling, cutting, planing and sawing involved in the making of his extraordinary recreations of landscapes such as Mount Viso that Luigi and his brothers crossed to reach the terrain where railway tunnels and tracks were built for the now famous Simplon line.
His physical involvement in the film both as narrator and with the random appearances of his puppeteer’s hands, holds a particular poignancy as the film allows him to have conversations with Cesira, who is voiced by Marseille born actress Ariane Ascaride.
The manual skill passed down the male line is shown when Ughetto tells that his father was known for entertaining his children with hand shadow puppets and that Luigi made his own tools, making the moment he passes a miniature pick to Luigi particularly poignant.
Despite the evidence of Ughetto’s actual hands breaking the fourth wall, if such a term applies to cinematic art forms, his skills draw the viewer in to what becomes utterly believable miniature landscapes peopled with tiny figures that he has imbued with such credible humanity.
Gorgeous original music from Academy Award Winning composer Nicola Piovani and real photos of events featured add to this exquisite work that is a true labour of love.
This 2022 stop motion film that speaks of universal truths about forgotten people’s history through Ughetto’s deeply personal story merits a wider audience. It deservedly won the Jury Award for Best Feature Film at Annecy International Animated Film Festival; the Grand Prize for a feature film at Bucheon International Animation Film Festival and a 2022 European Film Award.
Running time: 71 mins
Age Classification: 12+
Irene Brown
Radio Summerhall Arts 