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Fiume o morte!

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Fiume o morte!
Festival poster
Directed byIgor Bezinović [hr]
Written byIgor Bezinović
Produced by
  • Vanja Jambrović
  • Tibor Keser
CinematographyGregor Božič [sl]
Edited byHrvoslava Brkušić
Music by
Production
companies
Release dates
  • 2 February 2025 (2025-02-02) (Rotterdam)
  • 8 February 2025 (2025-02-08) (Croatia)
Running time
113 minutes
Countries
  • Croatia
  • Italy
  • Slovenia
Languages

Fiume o morte! (Italian for 'Rijeka or death!') is a 2025 comedy docudrama film written and directed by Igor Bezinović [hr]. A co-production of Croatia, Italy and Slovenia, it features reenactments and reconstructions of Gabriele D'Annunzio's occupation of Rijeka.

It premiered at the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won the Tiger Award. At the 72nd Pula Film Festival, the film won six Golden Arenas, including Best Director for Bezinović. At the 38th European Film Awards, it won Best Documentary. It was selected as the Croatian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, but was not nominated.[1]

Plot

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In present-day Rijeka, director Igor Bezinović asks local residents what they know about Gabriele D’Annunzio, the Italian poet and nationalist who occupied the city, then known as Fiume, after the First World War. Their responses introduce an account of D’Annunzio’s presence in the city and its place in local memory.

The film reconstructs the occupation through archival photographs and footage, narration, documentary sequences, and staged reenactments performed largely by residents of Rijeka. Several participants portray D’Annunzio, while others take the roles of soldiers and people connected with the events. The film also shows auditions, rehearsals, preparations, and discussions about the historical material used to stage the reenactments.

The narrative follows D’Annunzio’s arrival in Fiume in September 1919 and his campaign to annex the disputed city to Italy. Using contemporary locations and archival material, the film recreates speeches, military gatherings, ceremonies, and other episodes from the occupation. It also addresses the establishment of the Italian Regency of Carnaro and the conflict between D’Annunzio and the Italian government.

The occupation ends with the confrontation between D’Annunzio’s forces and the Italian military in December 1920. The film then returns to present-day Rijeka and to the residents who participated in the reenactments, connecting the historical events with contemporary recollections of the city’s past.

Cast

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Production

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Director Igor Bezinović [hr] grew up in Rijeka. Regarding his approach for the film, he stated, "It's like a history lesson but retold in a fun way. In high school, I didn't like history that much because I didn't have a good storyteller, and history is basically about the art of telling a story. You can combine storytelling with facts, and it doesn't have to be terribly boring. It can be fun."[2] Bezinović has said he was struck by how differently D'Annunzio is remembered depending on who is telling the story: in Rijeka's Italian-language schools he is studied as a literary figure, while in the city's Croatian-language schools, attended by the majority of residents, he is not taught at all.[3]

Bezinović began researching D'Annunzio and developing the film in 2015 after securing development funding, and started filming test material in 2018. An open call inviting Rijeka residents to take part was published in local media in 2020, and principal photography began in earnest in 2021 with the large pool of participants the production had already assembled.[3] During casting, Bezinović approached middle-aged men who, like D'Annunzio, happened to be bald, and asked whether they would be willing to portray him, and gave particular attention to residents who still spoke Fiuman, the Venetian-derived dialect once prevalent in the city but now spoken by few, weaving their voice-over narration into the film's soundtrack.[4][5]

Principal photography was completed by mid-July 2022.[6] The film was shot in Rijeka and Trieste, as well as at the Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone Riviera and in the Italian part of the Karst Plateau.[7]

Release

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The film premiered at the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam on 2 February 2025,[2][8] where it won both the Tiger Award and FIPRESCI Award.[9][10] The film opened theatrically in Croatia on 8 February 2025, and in Italy it opened on 24–26 February 2025 in a release organised in collaboration with the Pordenone Docs Fest, preceded by preview screenings in Venice, Trieste, Udine and Pordenone.[11] By the beginning of July 2025, it had attracted 27,052 viewers in Croatian cinemas, making it the most-watched documentary film since Croatia's independence in 1991, surpassing earlier record-holders such as Novo, novo vrijeme and Sretno dijete.[12] By mid-January 2026, its cumulative Croatian cinema audience had grown to 38,948, surpassing Fahrenheit 9/11 (34,389 admissions) to become the best-attended documentary in Croatian cinemas since independence.[13]

Reception

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Critical response

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On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 93% based on 15 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10.[14]

Wendy Ide of Screen Daily called the film "forthright, unflinching and very funny" and "a gloriously punk spin on the historical documentary genre".[15] Guy Lodge of Variety called the film "both compelling and very amusing".[16] Writing in The New Yorker on the occasion of the film's American premiere at New Directors/New Films, Richard Brody said Bezinović "confronts [the problem of dramatizing distant history] boldly and brilliantly", and that its re-creations, "however derisive, are chilling".[4]

Accolades

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Award Year[a] Category Recipient(s) Result Ref.
International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025 Tiger Award Fiume o morte! Won [17]
FIPRESCI Award Won
Pula Film Festival 2025 Best Makeup Ivana Pralija Won [18]
Best Costume Design Tajči Čekada [hr] and Manuela Paladin Won
Best Production Design Anton Spazzapan Won
Best Casting Sara Jakupec Won
Best Production Vanja Jambrović and Tibor Keser Won
Best Director Igor Bezinović [hr] Won
Yerevan International Film Festival 2025 Golden Apricot Fiume o morte! Won [19]
Vukovar Film Festival 2025 Golden Barge Won
CinEast Film Festival 2025 Audience Award Won [20]
Adriatic Film & TV Awards 2025 Best Film Won [21]
Best Director Igor Bezinović Won
Best Screenplay Won
European Film Awards 2026 Best Film Fiume o morte! Nominated [22]
Best Documentary Won
Millennium Docs Against Gravity 2026 FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix Won [23]

See also

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Notes

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  1. ↑ Indicates the year of ceremony. Each year is linked to the article about the awards held that year, wherever possible.

References

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  1. ↑ Strizić, Ana (5 September 2025). "Redatelj filma koji je hrvatski kandidat za Oscar: "Ovo nam je ogromno iznenađenje jer prvi put u utrci imamo dokumentarac"". Gloria (in Croatian). Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  2. 1 2 Szalai, Georg (1 February 2025). "Reliving the Peculiar Nationalist Occupation of Rijeka in Adventurous Hybrid Doc 'Fiume o morte!'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  3. 1 2 Ramanathan, Lavanya. "A Battle for Storytelling: Igor Bezinović Explores Gabriele D'Annunzio's Proto-Fascist Legacy in IFFR-Bound 'Fiume o Morte!'". International Documentary Association. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
  4. 1 2 Brody, Richard (1 April 2025). "'Fiume o Morte!' Brilliantly Dramatizes the Rise of a Demagogue". The New Yorker. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
  5. ↑ "'Fiume o Morte!', arriva in sala il doc di Igor Bezinović". Cinecittà News (in Italian). Retrieved 6 July 2026.
  6. ↑ Stojiljković, Marko (14 July 2022). "Igor Bezinović wraps shooting on Fiume o morte!". Cineuropa. Archived from the original on 18 May 2024. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  7. ↑ "Završilo snimanje dugometražnog dokumentarnog filma Fiume o morte! Igora Bezinovića". Croatian Audiovisual Centre [hr] (in Croatian). 18 July 2022. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  8. ↑ Barraclough, Leo (24 December 2024). "Lightdox Boards Rotterdam Tiger Competition Entry 'Fiume O Morte!,' About Italian Nationalist Poet Gabriele D'Annunzio (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  9. ↑ Sales Ross, Rafa (7 February 2025). "Igor Bezinović's 'Fiume o morte!' Wins Rotterdam Tiger Award, 'The Tree of Authenticity' and 'Im Haus meiner Eltern' Take Jury Prizes". Variety. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  10. ↑ Szalai, Georg (7 February 2025). "'Fiume o morte!' and 'Raptures' Win Top Rotterdam Film Festival Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  11. ↑ "'Fiume o Morte!', arriva in sala il doc di Igor Bezinović". Cinecittà News (in Italian). Retrieved 6 July 2026.
  12. ↑ "Dokumentarni film "Fiume o morte!" najgledaniji hrvatski dokumentarac". HRT (in Croatian). 3 July 2025. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
  13. ↑ "Riječki dokumentarni film "Fiume o morte!" najgledaniji hrvatski dokumentarni film i najbolji europski dokumentarac". Lokalpatrioti Rijeka (in Croatian). 18 January 2026. Retrieved 6 July 2026.
  14. ↑ "Fiume o morte!". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved 30 June 2026.
  15. ↑ Ide, Wendy (7 February 2025). "'Fiume O Morte!': Rotterdam Review". Screen Daily. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  16. ↑ Lodge, Guy (8 February 2025). "'Fiume o Morte!' Review: Irreverent Contemporary Reenactment of a Fascist Takeover Exposes the Absurdity of History". Variety. Retrieved 9 February 2025.
  17. ↑ Goodfellow, Melanie (7 February 2025). "Rotterdam Winners: Gabriele D'Annunzio Picture 'Fiume O Morte!' & 'Raptures' Win Top Prizes". Deadline. Retrieved 7 February 2025.
  18. ↑ Stojiljković, Marko (17 July 2025). "Peacemaker crowned with the Grand Golden Arena at the 72nd Pula Film Festival". Cineuropa. Retrieved 5 September 2025.
  19. ↑ Salwa, Ola (23 July 2025). "Fiume o morte! emerges triumphant at the 22nd Golden Apricot International Film Festival". Cineuropa. Retrieved 23 July 2025.
  20. ↑ "CinEast 2025 Awards". CinEast Film Festival. 18th edition of the Central and Eastern European Film Festival in Luxembourg. Retrieved 26 October 2025.
  21. ↑ Szalai, Georg (27 October 2025). "Croatian Oscar Contender 'Fiume o Morte!' Wins Adriatic Film TV Awards". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 20 January 2026.
  22. ↑ "Fiume o Morte". European Film Awards. European Film Awards. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
  23. ↑ Carey, Matthew (7 May 2026). "'Fiume O Morte!' WIns Inaugural FIPRESCI Documentary Grand Prix". Deadline. Retrieved 8 May 2026.
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