Lačno brdo 1111 The film On our own land shows the struggle of the par- Kotel HUDAJUŽNA 1175 tisans and the civil population of Primorska to liberate Who does The theme path address? themselves after 25 years of Italian occupation and rejoin Žetlc the rest of . The script was written by Ciril Kosmač 5 The theme path is meant for the locals and visitors of the Bača valley, film and after his short novel Očka Orel (Grandpa Orel). Kosmač book lovers, pupils, scholars, students and pensioners, and anybody who sym- 6 pathises with the struggle for the liberation of the oppressed. The path is freely had personally experienced fascist violence and that is KORITNICA Zakojca Stane, look at her, that’s our valley! GRAHOVO accessible and most of the boards are accessible to the physically disabled, as why his characters are so authentic and their language OB BAČI 7 is the media point at Brišar’s. Children and youth will be attracted by the Orlič The film’s story so simple and powerful. The film was first entitled In the 3 story and a popular explanation of film elements; for them we have prepared Heart of Europe, but towards the end of the filming it 1 2 4a theme sheets Orlič na svoji zemlji and theme days (see more at the website was changed into “the best possible title in the world, Kojca www.tpnasvojizemlji.si). because it speaks for all Slovenes, for all these places, 1303 and for the film itself, because it must remain faithful to The project its own land.” (Štiglic in Slavje slovenskega filma, TVS, The theme path On our own land was developed by a working group of the ž. p. Bača Heritage Society and the Local Community of Grahovo ob Bači. The project 1975) According to the original script the story was to end BUKOVO 4b organizer was the Municipality of , and the project was executed by the in the Bača Valley, where Stane was to become a teacher The theme path On our own land 1 Capitulation! Down with the fascists! Bača Heritage Society, together with the Local Community of Grahovo ob Bači, after the liberation, but the political situation requested it Črvov vrh The theme path 974On our own land permanently marks the film’s the , and the Podbrdo Mountaineering Society as partners. Part- to have a more illustrious end – the liberation of Trieste. 2 Do you know this birdie, huh? heritage in the Bača Valley with theme boards at the locations ners who contributed to the contents were the Slovene Ethnographic Museum, 3 Light it! Light it! (Štiglic, Stari bomo dvajset let IV, Ekran, str. 243) The where the most important scenes were filmed. The theme the Slovenian Film Centre, the Slovenian Film Archives at the Archives of the 4 theme path On our own land symbolically returns the film path includes this leaflet, the website, and two media points in Stane, look at her, that’s our valley! Republic of Slovenia, the Slovene Cinematheque, Kinodvor, Televizija Slovenija, back to the Bača Valley. Grahovo ob Bači. 5 Oh, sweet Jesus! Radio Slovenija, Municipal Museum, Kinoatelje, Ciril Kosmač Library in The title On our own land is widely used for books, arti- 6 I’ll take of my shoes as this is the last time I’ll walk our land. Tolmin, Tolmin Grammar School, Simon Kos Primary School in Podbrdo, Dušan The theme path On our own land connects the heritage

Munih Primary School in Most na Soči, Zarja Sports Club, and the Voluntary Fire cles, TV programs, websites, artistic events, national cel- Description of the path 7 I’ll be my own master on my own land. of the film with the same title to the Bača Valley, where Brigade of Grahovo ob Bači. The project received financial support from the ebrations, and even an ecological farm chose it for its Three theme boards stand in Grahovo ob Bači: the first is dedicated most of the scenes were shot. It preserves the common European Agricultural Fund for Regional Development. The name. In 2012 the Association of Slovenian Filmmakers to the scene of jubilation upon the capitulation of and stands memory of the filmmakers and locals of the time when is responsible for the contents of the leaflet. The Ministry of Agriculture and the at the local community’s premises; the second presents the scene where the White Guards arrest Tildica and stands above the village trough, started awarding a moral award for humanitarian merits Environment is the managing body of the program for regional development of the film was made. next to Štefc’s garden; and the third board stands beside the monument to the making of the film opposite Brišar’s. The path descends past the that is called On our own Land. the Republic of Slovenia in the 2007-2013 period. church to the Bača River and across the Logar footbridge to the mighty Logar Railway Bridge; here stands a board with the scene in which the On our own land. Director France Štiglic, script writer Ciril railway bridge is blown up. On the other bank of the Bača the path winds up the slopes of Spodnje Bukovo to where the introductory frames Kosmač, director of photography Ivan Marinček, cam- (Stane, look at her, that’s our valley!) were taken. The actual spot is rather high on the local road to Zakojca, and a nearly identical board stands eramen Ivo Belec and Srečko Pavlovčič, music composer at Brelh’s, from where there is a beautiful view of the two villages, although the point Marjan Kozina, music performer The Slovene Philharmonic of sight is much lower than in the film. The path now descends back to the Bača River, Orchestra, scenographer Boris Kobe, Tone Mlakar and Veno crosses it, and climbs to the trough V klancu in Koritnica and to the spot of Oh, sweet

Pilon, costume designer Mija Jarc, makeup artist Mara Kralj, Jesus! Below, at Gasar’s in the centre of the village an anthological scene was filmed: I’ll KRAJEVNA SKUPNOST GRAHOVO OB BAČI sound engineer Rudi Omota, editor Ivan Marinček, assistant take off my shoes as this is the last time I’ll walk our land. director Jože Gale, still photographer Erminio del Fabbro, The theme path now leaves Koritnica and following the right bank of the Bača returns producer Janez Jerman, cast Lojze Potokar, France Presetnik, back to Grahovo and the monument to the making of the film, made by the sculptor Mileva Zakrajšek, Štefka Drolc, Boris Sešek, Stane Sever, Peter Jovanovič, and the final theme board. The closest media point is in Brišar’s lunch Miro Kopač, Avgusta Danilova, Majda Potokar, Metka Bučar, café (Pri Brišarju, 05/380 4801, 031/784 581, [email protected]). Guided visits Angela Rakar, Jule Vizjak, Franjo Kumer, Stane Starešinič, can start a theme day by viewing the film On our own land and the exhibition On our Tone Eržen, Andrej Kurent, Gabrijel Vajt, Oskar Kjuder, Jože own land – sixty years later of the Tolmin Museum that is installed in the thematic room THEME PATH ON OUR OWN LAND Zupan, Aleksander Valič, Ivo Belec, Jože Gale and others, The location of the hostage shooting scene On our own land in the premises of the Local Community of Grahovo ob Bači. Then they produced by Triglav film, 1948, 106 minutes. in the centre of Koritnica (del Fabbro) can choose the short or long route of the theme path. www.tpnasvojizemlji.si

austere conditions of the early post-war period. Before the shooting The locals assisted the crew with logistics and provisions, and they also Freedom and comradeship are the powerful values of the The film On our own land is an important element of started, six members of the film crew were sent to Czechoslovakia on participated as extras in the mass scenes. “Villagers from Grahovo and film On our own land and the film, too, was made in a the valley’s cultural biography. It asserted the name a short training course, while the other crew members were largely Koritnica participated in the scenes showing village life. They were quite spirit of comradeship and cooperation. In late October 1975, Baška grapa and spread it across Slovenia and the then without formal film education. The technical team often had to im- thrilled to participate, especially because the film showed what they the Association of Slovenian Filmmakers erected a monu- homeland of . The locals are proud of the film provise. The sound engineer Rudi Omota, for instance, constructed had gone through themselves. They told us that the events following ment in Grahovo ob Bači in honour of the making of the and know exactly where the main scenes were filmed. a sound recording device all by himself. The actors had to learn film Italy’s capitulation occurred just like we filmed them. Hostages were film On our own land, the only one of its kind in Slovenia. The memory of the film is preserved in the name of acting on the spot - in the Bača Valley. »The hardest thing was to work shot or hanged in their villages. They cooperated with the liberation Its ceremonial unveiling, the excitement of the filmmakers the annual meeting of the villagers On our own land – with the students of the Acting Academy. All of them were young army when it attacked the railway and the military outpost in the and the delight of the locals are recorded in a program of Today and in the Grandpa Orel march and sport games. Hamlets and Oresteses. It always took a few days for them to speak village. They therefore easily related to the film scenes. But that was Television Slovenia Slavje slovenskega filma (Celebrating On the 60th anniversary of the film’s making the local simply again. I think that the theatre actors learned a great deal from not all: they were also very critical of everything that they felt was not Slovene Film). “The summer and autumn of 1946 was a community of Grahovo organized a memorable event the film, above all to be authentic and natural.« (France Štiglic, Stari authentic... We organized film projections for them, told them what a special experience for us children, who were then growing that was attended by the surviving members of the film bomo dvajset let III, Ekran, 1964, str. 1999) film is, how it should be watched, and what our film would be like.“ up. During the entire period of the film’s shooting we were crew. The villagers cooperated in making The theme path (Štiglic, Stari bomo dvajset let III, Ekran, 1964, p. 2000) actively engaged, helping out and following the events as On our own land. much as we could. We learned individual passages from the film by heart and we still know them today. Of all Štiglic and colleagues scouting locations, April 1947 (del Fabbro) the events accompanying the making of the film, I best

The making of the film On our own land remember the demolition of the railway” (Albert Manfreda Location scouting How do the inhabitants relate to film? Values in the film and related to its making in Slavje slovenskega filma, TVS, 1975). The film crew first visited the Bača Valley to scout filming locations in the spring of 1947. France Štiglic: “… my imagination was already selecting the most attractive scenes, combining them into film sequences … Below us lay the valley. I could not capture all of it with my eyes but had to trace it by turning to the extreme edges, which framed the valley like film models in transparent sunlight. At the bottom of the Professional actors and locals in a mass scene. Of all the locals, Jakob Kavčič valley shimmered the narrow river, with Rusc from Grahovo played the biggest part as he also said a few sentences in the road and railway running along it and the film. (del Fabbro) Štiglic and the film crew during the shooting (del Fabbro) crossing one another in places. Below the rock faces and steep hay meadows village roofs sparkled on steep slopes. At this France Štiglic moment the partisan Sova from the script The role of the villagers (archive Tugo Štiglic) became alive in me and I could hear him of Grahovo and Koritnica The film crew in front of say with love and pride: “Stane, look at her, The making of the film On our own land benefited the monument, October 1975 that’s our valley!” … Yes, that’s our valley! It is the setting of our from the good cooperation between the crew and the (A. Manfreda) film’s story.” (Stari bomo dvajset let II, Ekran, 1964, pps. 1692–1696). locals. When the crew first arrived at the location in 1947 it quite enlivened the tranquil village life. The Filming main crew members stayed in Most na Soči and the THE THEME PATH ON OUR OWN LAND Text: Nadja Valentinčič Furlan France Štiglic was probably invited to join the first film crew because others with locals from Grahovo and Koritnica. Štiglic Grahovo ob Bači and Koritnica in the Bača Valley he had been awarded a Bronze Lion at the Venice Film Festival for thought that the new simple peasant outfits, made Design: Andrej Furlan, Žiga Okorn (SR Preddvor, d.o.o.) Translation: Franc Smrke Contact: Društvo Baška dediščina, his short film Youth Builds. In the rejuvenated crew he was appointed for the film, were not realistic enough and the actors Printed by: Mat-format Alenka Zgaga, 041/601 248, main director and even though he was only twenty-seven at the exchanged them with the villagers for their worn-out, Štefka Drolc in a newly made outfit; and as Tildica in worn-out clothes between her mother and Drejc Print run: 1000 time, he didn’t shrink from the challenge. The film was made in the patched up clothes. (del Fabbro). © 2012 Municipality of Tolmin. All rights reserved. www.tpnasvojizemlji.si, [email protected]