Beginning of the 20th century – Ughettera, Northern Italy, the Ughetto family’s village. Living in the region had become very difficult and the Ughettos dream of a better life abroad. Legend has it that Luigi Ughetto crossed the Alps starting a new life in France, thus changing the destiny of his beloved family forever. His grandson travels back in time revisiting their history.
"At the beginning: an old image circulating on the net intrigued me, a black and white sign hanging in front of an old café: No dogs or Italians allowed. I thought that this image came from Savoy, or from Ain or maybe from Switzerland, but in fact its first appearance was in Belgium. Other countries followed, but it was part of my history. The violence, the cruelty and the ferocity of this little sign that welcomed migrants fits perfectly with the historical evocation that is the basis of the theme of this film. An entire scene is devoted to this poster which became the title."
- Alain Ughetto
"The technique we used had to keep a “handmade” aspect (there is always a question of hands in this film, especially Luigi’s, which were so beautiful according to Cesira), an artisanal approach, because its raw material was what could be found in the Piedmont where the Ughetto family comes from. Charcoal to represent the mountains, the pieces of sugar from the sugar box become the bricks of a wall, the chestnuts of the polenta are the stones that mark the paths and the broccoli become trees..."
- Alexandre Cornu, Executive producer