Fiume o morte!

Fiume o morte!  

Igor Bezinović, Croatia, Italy, Slovenia, 2025, 112’

In 1919, the notorious Italian poet, dandy, passionate militarist, and proto-fascist Gabriele D’Annunzio, dissatisfied with the decision of the Paris Peace Conference to assign Fiume – today’s Rijeka – to the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes, declared the city an independent state. A century later, Bezinović invites his fellow citizens to reconquer the history of their city together.

“As mentioned, this is not taught in Croatian schools. /…/ The reason for this is probably that talking about D’Annunzio implies that you have to talk about the multicultural city that existed during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and this story has never suited the Italians, Yugoslavs, or Croats, as it is a story about a multicultural Austro-Hungarian port city that had a kind of autonomy in relation to Croatia and actually functioned as a Hungarian port. The history of this city is so complicated that it is actually impossible to tell a simple story about it, and then, when D’Annunzio arrives and occupies the city for 16 months, the situation becomes even more complicated. Telling a simple story about all this was not easy at all. Working on this film was a big challenge, because I really wanted to tell a story that also others could tell and that would be acceptable to different people from Rijeka, regardless of whether they were Fiumani-Italians, Rijeka-Croats, or of other nationalities, for example Slovenes. For me, the important thing was that, on a human level, we accept the fact that we cannot understand the occupation as a revolution.” – Igor Bezinović, Razgledi in razmisleki, Program Ars

Igor Bezinović from Rijeka, Croatia, studied philosophy, sociology and literature at the University of Zagreb, after which he studied film at the Zagreb Academy of the Dramatic Art. His first full-length documentary, The Blockade (2012), received the Oktavijan prize for best Croatian documentary and his hybrid feature A Brief Excursion (2017), which premiered in Rotterdam, received the Big Golden Arena prize for best Croatian feature. His original and engaged work has been celebrated internationally at numerous venues and events.

The film will be introduced by the Kino Otok festival team and guests.

The screening is part of a special programme we are preparing in collaboration with Kosovelov dom Sežana as part of the 21st International Film Festival Kino Otok – Isola Cinema.