Valley of Peace

by France Štiglic and Cannes Classics

Dolina miru, 1956, fiction, digital DCP (2016), 86 min
Finished

YU (SI)

It's the story of two war orphans, a German girl named Lottie and a Slovene boy named Marko, who escape from a town which has been bombed, in search of "a valley where there is no war". Marko who is a few years older thinks that this is probably the place where he used to go for holidays at his uncle's and so they bravely set up, retreating from the German soldiers. Jim, a black American pilot, who parachuted from a plane that had been shut down joins them at the river. They continue the journey together and finally reach the place of peace the boy knows. However, "the valley of peace" is attacked by the Germans and the pilot is killed. The children run away in despair and continue their search.

screenwriter
Ivan Ribič
director
France Štiglic
director of photography
Rudi Vavpotič
music composer
Marjan Kozina
film editor
Radojka Tanhofer
production designer
Ivo Spinčić
costume designer
Relly Dular
key make-up artist
Hilda Jurečič

featuring
John Kitzmiller, Eveline Wohlfeiler, Tugo Štiglic, Boris Kralj, Maks Furijan

production
Triglav Film
distribution
Slovenian Film Centre

Slovenian Film Centre
Jaka Strnad
promocija@sfc.si

In 1948 the director France Štiglic (1919–93) shot On Our Own Land, the first Slovenian live-action feature after World War II. With this full-length debut he qualified among the candidates for the Jury Prize at the Cannes Film Festival in 1949. He then returned to Cannes twice more: in 1957 with The Valley of Peace and in 1960 with his film The Ninth Circle. Both times he was nominated for the Golden Palm. In 1961 The Ninth Circle also qualified, as the Yugoslav candidate, among the finalists nominated for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film.
Štiglic's more prominent achievements also include the films That Beautiful Day; The Ballad of the Trumpet and the Cloud; Don't Cry, Peter; Little Shepherds; and The Story of Good People. His directorial opus includes twelve feature films.