Happy are those who have bread and polenta.
Not only are you allowed, but if you’re Italian, you have to come and see this. And anyone else who values thoughtful and feelingful animation, too. Alain Ughetto provides us with a love letter to his grandparents, Luigi and Cesira, peasants from the Piedmont region of Italy, where there is too much war, too many children, and not enough food. The only option is to emigrate, and France is hungry for manual labourers prepared to do whatever it takes to put polenta in the pot. Ughetto’s charming animation is his way of honouring manual labour, as he provides his nona and nono with houses made from cardboard and forests made of broccoli. The effect is quietly magical in this tribute to his family, and to all families forced into exile in order to survive.
“No Dogs or Italians Allowed is a film that is both tender and rough, intimate and historical, poetic and realistic…a very sophisticated work where the imaginary and the real are combined marvellously in a state of mind that is always positive.” (Cineuropa)
World Cinema Program presented by
