Dolina miru

Mitten im Krieg suchen die Waisen Marko und Lotti nach dem „Tal des Friedens“; stattdessen treffen sie den abgestürzten Piloten Jim, dem sowohl der deutsche Feind als auch die jugoslawischen Partisanen auf den Fersen sind – und doch nimmt er die Kinder unter seine Fittiche. Ein deutsches Mädchen, ein slowenischer Junge und ein schwarzer US-Soldat bilden ein zeitlos-lyrisches Denkmal des Humanismus und eine multiethnische Einheitsfront gegen den Faschismus und für den Frieden. Bei den Filmfestspielen 1957 in Cannes wurde John Kitzmiller mit der Goldenen Palme als bester Schauspieler ausgezeichnet (sieben Jahre bevor Sidney Poitier als erster Schwarzer einen Oscar erhielt).

In the middle of World War II, war orphans Marko and Lotti try to seek shelter in the “valley of peace”. On their way, they meet an American pilot named Jim (John Kitzmiller), who is on the run after his plane crash lands. Both the German enemy and the Yugoslavian partisans are racing to find him, but the two children he has taken under his wing slow down the heroic GI. With DOLINA MIRU, France Štiglic brought Yugoslavian film to the world stage: his humanist masterpiece had its international premiere at the 1957 Cannes Festival, where Kitzmiller won the prestigious Golden Palm for Best Actor, seven years before Sidney Poitier became the first African-American to win an Oscar. An actual former GI, John Kitzmiller came to film a few years after landing in Italy, after a proposal from a director looking for a black soldier. He then starred in a score of movies, mostly Italian, and directed by such luminaries as Luigi Zampa, Alberto Lattuada, and Sergio Corbucci. But it was DOLINA MIRU that truly made his career, and he later became known for his parts in DR. NO (1962) and UNCLE TOM’S CABIN (1965). The fourth feature by France Štiglic, DOLINA MIRU remains his most popular and enduring work to this day. The unusual trio of a German girl, Slovenian boy, and a black American soldier represent a timeless, lyrical monument to a pan-national and pan-racial united front against fascism and for peace.