original title:
Interdit aux chiens et aux italiens
italian title:
Manodopera
directed by:
cast:
Ariane Ascaride, Alain Ughetto
screenplay:
cinematography:
Fabien Drouet, Sara Sponga
animation:
Elie Chapuis, Marjolaine Parot
production:
Les Films du Tambour de Soie, Vivement Lundi !, Foliascope, GraffitiDoc, Lux Fugit Film, Nadasdy Film, supported by Ministero della Cultura, with the support of CNC, Centre du Cinéma et de l'Audiovisuel de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Office Fédéral de la Culture, Eurimages, Film Commission Torino Piemonte
distribution:
world sales:
country:
France/Italy/Belgium/Switzerland/Belgium
year:
2022
film run:
70'
format:
colour
release date:
31/08/2023
genre:
animation film
festivals & awards:
In a fascinating animation in claymotion, the true story of Luigi, an Italian immigrant who in the '20s clandestinely passes the border of the Alps and founds a family in France. The necessary story of when we were the ones who were forbidden to enter.
DIRECTOR'S NOTES:
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, I recall my grandfather’s path, born in the same place at the same time, emigrated to France as thousands of other Italians did. In my laboratory I’ll bring back to life this lost world, this rural culture which was also my grandparents’ one, which has been called by Nuto Revelli “the world of the defeated”.
Putting my hand into the modelling clay, discovering their work gestures, finding out how they lived and survived, I wonder about the work itself of my hands. What has been left of them, of their techniques, their know-how, their land, their language, their culture? What is still alive in me, of this lost world?