THE MOVING PICTURE BOY ARCHIVE

DOLINA MIRU

 

Title: Dolina miru
English translation of title: The Valley of Peace
Year of Release: 1956
Director: France Štiglic
Country of Production: Yugoslavia
Principal Boy Actors: Tugo Štiglic (son of the director France Štiglic) as Marko
Genre: War Drama
Length: 1 hr 25 min
Language: Slovene, with some German and English
Availability: The film was restored, and released on blu-ray with optional English subtitles, by the Slovenian Film Centre. The restoration was co-funded by the Slovenian Ministry of Culture. The aim, according to the notes on the blu-ray sleeve, was "to preserve the cultural heritage and allow the audience to see and familiarise itself with Slovenian film masterpieces in their best image as well as with their meaning and message."

Synopsis
After 10 year old Marko, and a much younger German girl called Lotti, both find their parents killed as a result of the American bombing of their Slovenian city, they escape from the orphanage to which they are sent, in search of the 'Valley of Peace', a place where, so Lotti's grandmother told her, there is no war, and which Marko identifies with his uncle's farm in the countryside. On the way, they meet Jim, a downed American pilot who is trying to meet up with the Yugoslav partisans. Jim decides to help the two orphans find their Valley of Peace, whilst evading the German occupying troops.

Director France Štiglic had directed the very first Slovenian feature film with sound, Na svoji zemlji (In Our Own Land, 1948). Dolina miru was his second feature, and was selected for the competition for the Palme d'Or at Cannes in 1957. (The Palme d'Or was won that year by William Wyler's Friendly Persuasion, but John Kitzmiller received the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Jim in Dolina miru.) Fifty-nine years later, in 2016, the film, newly restored, was once again shown at Cannes, and Tugo Štiglic, by then a 69 year old man, was present at the screening.

Production photos

Screenshots