‘No Dogs Or Italians Allowed,’ ‘Granny’s Sexual Life’ Take Top Honors At European Film Awards

Alain Ughetto’s No Dogs or Italians Allowed won this year’s European Film Award for best animated feature, with Urška Djukić and Émilie Pigeard’s Granny’s Sexual Life winning best short film, beating out its live-action competition for that prize.

No Dogs or Italians Allowed – Alain Ughetto (France, Italy, Belgium, Switzerland, Portugal)

In the early 20th century, living in Ughettera, Northern Italy, had become untenable for the Ughetto family. According to legend, Luigi Ughetto was able to cross the Alps and found a new start in France, thus changing the destiny of his beloved family forever. In this stop-motion feature, his grandson travels back in time to revisit his family’s history.

“Jasmine was the revelation of the 2013 Annecy Festival,” said Annecy artistic director Marcel Jean when No Dogs or Italian Allowed was picked to screen at the festival this year. “Now, nearly ten years later, Alain Ughetto is back with a film that again draws deeply from autobiography, a film in which the narrative device is once again built on the representation of the film’s production resources.”

Ughetto’s early 20^th-century immigration tale No Dogs or Italians Allowed went on to win a jury award and the Gan Foundation award for distribution at Annecy. It also scooped the Gandhi’s Glasses award at Torino.

Granny’s Sexual Life – Urška Djukić, Émilie Pigeard (Slovenia, France)

Granny’s Sexual Life is based on the anonymous testimonials gathered by Milena Miklavcic in the book “Don’t Play With Fire, Ass, and Snakes.” In the film, four elderly women reflect on their memories of the old days when they were young.

Granny has had a tremendous 2022 in which the film screened in competition at some of the biggest festivals in the world such as Annecy, Clermont-Ferrand, and Tallinn Black Nights. Before scooping the European Film Award, it scored prizes at numerous events including Animateka, Slovene Film Festival, and Uppsala. At the Warsaw Animation Film Festival, it won a special mention for “showing the violent side of the world through a relevant animation technique,” according to the jury. The short is currently qualified for the upcoming Oscars and will be hoping to make the shortlist on December 21.