Kekec (1951 film)
8.2 /10 1 Votes
Director Joze Gale Country Slovenia | 8/10 IMDb Duration Language Slovene | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 18 December 1951 (1951-12-18) (Slovenia) Writer Joze Gale, Frane Milcinski, Josip Vandot (novel) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Kekec is a 1951 Slovene/Yugoslavian adventures-youth film directed by Jože Gale. Film was based on the Kekec Above the Lonely Abyss (Kekec nad samotnim breznom), a mountain narrative by Josip Vandot, last of three stories about Kekec, which was published in Slovenian youth magazine Zvonček in 1924. Film was produced by Triglav Film and originally distributed by Vesna film, currently at Viba film. Story is set in northwest part of Slovenian mountains, mainly in author's birthplace Kranjska Gora and Julian Alps.
Contents
This is the first in the Jože Gale film series about Kekec and has two sequels: Good Luck, Kekec (Srečno, Kekec!) from 1963 and Kekec's Tricks (Kekčeve ukane) from 1968.
There was more than thousand kids on thi film audition chosen by casting director Ernest Adamič. One of the supporting actors was Slovenian singer Lado Leskovar.
Kekec
Plot summary
Based on the popular story "Kekec nad samotnim breznom" ("Kekec Above the Lonely Abyss", 1924) by Josip Vandot, story wasn't changed that much from original, but the songs with music in background were totally new. it's set in an idyllic village of the Slovenian mountains where Kekec (Matija Barl), a young boy is living.
High up in the mountains leads his solitary life Bedanec (France Presetnik), a man everybody is afraid of because he is wicked. But the brave boy Kekec is not afraid of him. When he gets to know that Bedanec keeps his victims Mojca (Zdenka Logar) and Kosobrin (Frane Milčinski) in his house, he sets out to find them. With his courage and cunning Kekec manages to set them free, and what's more, he forces Bedanec to leave for good.
Success
This is by the far most popular and successful films in Kekec's film trilogy and one of the greatest films in Slovenian and Yugoslavian cinema history. First Slovenian film with international award, supposedly went to festivals and cinema in over sixty countries all around the world like China, where it hosted in 1957 as part of Yugoslavian film week and Argentina...
Award
This was the first ever international award for a Slovenian feature film. At 13th Venice International Film Festival in 1952, this film won a Golden Lion for the best film in youth category, for kids between ages 11 and 14.
Music
The whole music including theme was composed by Marjan Kozina, a Slovenian composer. Lyrics for theme song called "Dobra volja je najbolja" was written by Frane Milčinski and performed by Tomaž Tozon together with Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra.
References
Kekec (1951 film) WikipediaKekec (1951 film) IMDb Kekec (1951 film) themoviedb.org