Vizinada: Small town – big movie story

It is hard to imagine that the quiet streets of Vizinada were once the backdrop for the chaos of war, but that is exactly what happened in the late 1960s when the small Istrian town briefly became part of a Hollywood film story. The film camera then transformed the small Istrian town into a convincing war backdrop, and the local squares and facades were transformed into scenes that are usually only seen on the big screen.

The most famous film shot in Vizinada is the war classic Kelly’s Heroes from 1970. The production sought an authentic European setting, and Vizinada’s architecture made it a perfect fit for the role of a war-torn French town. For the filming, the location was extensively re-staged, and parts of the facades were deliberately destroyed and damaged with pyrotechnics to create the impression of a real war zone.

The film brought big names like Clint Eastwood, Donald Sutherland and Telly Savalas to Istria. Locals still talk about their approachability and relaxed attitude on set, and there is a famous photo of a local boy posing with Eastwood on the streets of the town.

One of the reasons why the production chose Yugoslavia at the time was the availability of original military machinery from World War II, including Sherman tanks, which gave the film additional authenticity.
One of the lesser-known details from the filming relates to Donald Sutherland, who fell seriously ill with spinal meningitis while working on the film and had to stop filming for a while, but after recovering, he returned to the set and completed his role.

Decades later, the Austrian thriller Grave Digger (2021) was filmed in Vizinada, in which the main square became an important film backdrop. This once again confirmed that Vizinada has that special atmosphere that is difficult to artificially create – exactly the one that filmmakers are always looking for.

The film’s past has also left its mark on the local community. Enthusiasts occasionally organize events inspired by scenes from Kelly’s Heroes, and visitors eagerly seek out locations where famous sequences were filmed. Photographs of locals with famous actors are still treasured as keepsakes.

Today, Vizinada remains a reminder that even the smallest places can sometimes become the stage for great film stories, confirming that film history is often hidden far from the big cities.