Fiume o Morte!

synopsis

After World War I, the northern Croatian port city of Fiume experienced one of the most bizarre military campaigns in history. It lasted sixteen months and was led by Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, who occupied present-day Rijeka with three hundred soldiers in September 1919. He founded his own state there and ruled it until the army of his native Italy rose up against him. The poet-dictator, who inspired Benito Mussolini, immortalized his reign in ten thousand period photographs. Rijeka native Igor Brezinović subversively revives them and, in a tangle of historical facts and exaggeration, in the gap between history and the present, discovers the roots of fascism.

“D’Annunzio treated his occupation of Fiume with the same romanticism as his writing, even going so far as to obsessively have him and his men filmed and photographed to project a propagandistic ideal.” — Igor Brezinović

biography

Igor Brezinović (* 1983) was born in Rijeka, Croatia. He studied philosophy and sociology at the Faculty of Philosophy in Zagreb and film and television directing at the Academy of Dramatic Arts there. Ji.hlava IDFF awarded a special mention for his feature-length documentary debut The Blockade (2012) and screened his short film Microcassette (2020). His feature debut A Brief Excursion (2017) competed in Rotterdam.

film details

director:	Igor Bezinović
cast:	Izet Medošević, Ćenan Beljulji, Albano Vučetić, Tihomir Buterin, Andrea Marsanich, Massimo Ronzani, Milovan Večerina Cico
producer:	Vanja Jambrović, Tibor Keser
script:	Igor Bezinović
photography:	Gregor Božič
editing:	Hrvoslava Brkušić
music:	Giovanni Maier, Hrvoje Nikšić
sound design:	Eric Guerrino Nardin
co-producer:	Erica Barbiani, Marina Gumzi
associate producer:	Oliver Sertić