Little Shepherds
Pastirci, 1973, fiction, Digital DCP (2023), 83 min
YU (SI)
Finished
The film shows the adventures of alpine shepherds, or rather, shepherd boys, who, while tending their flocks, experience the joys and heartaches of growing up, first love, dreams of travelling to distant places and the brooding charm of a nearby mill. Besides their fantasies, the boys face far more down-to-earth difficulties. Blaže is caught in a fox trap and Terezka is the cause of dispute between Lenart and Ferjanč. Lenart discovers that his trousers have disappeared after his dip in the lake and to get back at Ferjanč, frays the ropes on their great swing which swoops back and forth out over a precipice. Will his childish act of revenge lead to tragedy, or will childish innocence renew t…
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 …