The film reconstructs the events after the First World War in which the Italian poet Gabriele D'Annunzio, accompanied by about a thousand rebellious Italian soldiers, captured the city of Rijeka in September 1919 and declared it his own micro-nation. This was followed by a short period in which, according to many, Rijeka became a world haven for artists and free thinkers, but also a place where the idea of nationalism flourished. Following bloody clashes in January 1921, the regular Italian army expelled D’Annunzio, but many ideas that emerged during his Rijeka episode were seen later in Mussolini’s regime.
"We have been developing this project for the past four years. With the recent support from Eurimages, we’ll be able to film it in the way it was originally envisioned. Although the documentary is dealing with a historic event a hundred years ago in Rijeka, we believe it has great international potential, both because of its original directing approach and the still relevant topic of strengthening nationalist ideologies", said producer Vanja Jambrović.
In 2019, the Croatian Audiovisual Centre supported the production of the film with 105,000 EUR / 800,000 HRK. In 2020, Creative Europe - MEDIA sub-programme supported the project with 25,000 EUR, and in early December the film got 140,000 EUR from Eurimages.
The project was previously supported with 8,000 EUR by the RE-ACT programme in 2018, and was further developed through EAVE with a stipend for the producer Tibor Keser, and in the framework of the EKRAN+ 2019 programme of the Wajda School. Additional funding was secured from the City of Rijeka, City of Zagreb, Croatian Film Directors Guild, the Italian Ministry of Culture, Regional fund Friuli, Venezia Guila, and the Slovenian Film Centre.
Production information:
Producers:
Vanja Jambrović, Tibor Keser
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Restart (Croatia)
Coproducers:
Erica Barbiani, Lucia Candelpergher
Videomante (Italy)
Marina Gumzi
Nosorogi (Slovenia)
Credits:
Director and scriptwriter: Igor Bezinović
Cinematographers: Danko Vučinović, Gregor Božić
Editor: Hrvoslava Brkušić
