The film was mostly shot in the Foliascope studios of Beaumont- les-Valence in the Drôme region. The stop motion shoot, from January 2020 to July 2021, required a complex set-up with scale elements and the use of materials from daily life.
In tracing the path of Luigi and Cesira Ughetto, the director’s grandparents, and their peers, from peasants in Piedmonte to labourers in France, the film tells the story of a territory that began to empty out in the 1800s. From 1876 to 1985, over 27.5 million Italians left the country and Piedmont was the region most affected in terms of numbers in the earliest phase of the emigration: the journey of the emigrants told in this film.
Director Alain Ughetto returned from a trip to Piedmont to trace his family origins with photographs and a range of local elements – moss, chestnuts, coal, sugar lumps, pumpkin – which he used to create the miniature world of the film, where broccoli becomes trees and coal mountains and sugar lumps serve as mattresses…
The ruins of Ughettera in Piedmont (deserted today) were not only created in stop-motion, but also with real life footage. Other sets inspired by real places include mount Monviso, rising above Ughettera; the hills of the village of Premeno (birthplace of Cesira Caretti); the Sempione train tunnel joining Piedmont and Switzerland which Luigi Ughetto helped build; and the high Sangone valley.
The film was mostly shot in the Foliascope studios of Beaumont- les-Valence in the Drôme region. The stop motion shoot, from January 2020 to July 2021, required a complex set-up with scale elements and the use of materials from daily life.
In tracing the path of Luigi and Cesira Ughetto, the director’s grandparents, and their peers, from peasants in Piedmonte to labourers in France, the film tells the story of a territory that began to empty out in the 1800s. From 1876 to 1985, over 27.5 million Italians left the country and Piedmont was the region most affected in terms of numbers in the earliest phase of the emigration: the journey of the emigrants told in this film.
Director Alain Ughetto returned from a trip to Piedmont to trace his family origins with photographs and a range of local elements – moss, chestnuts, coal, sugar lumps, pumpkin – which he used to create the miniature world of the film, where broccoli becomes trees and coal mountains and sugar lumps serve as mattresses…
The ruins of Ughettera in Piedmont (deserted today) were not only created in stop-motion, but also with real life footage. Other sets inspired by real places include mount Monviso, rising above Ughettera; the hills of the village of Premeno (birthplace of Cesira Caretti); the Sempione train tunnel joining Piedmont and Switzerland which Luigi Ughetto helped build; and the high Sangone valley.
Les Films du Tambour de Soie, Vivement Lundi !, Foliascope, Graffiti Film, Lux Fugit Film, Nadasdy Film, Ocidental Filmes
