06-07-2025

Fiume o morte! Is the Most Watched Croatian Documentary since Regaining Independence

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    Fiume o morte! by Igor Bezinović Fiume o morte! by Igor Bezinović credit: Restart

    ZAGREB: The Croatian/Italian/Slovenian hybrid documentary Fiume o morte! directed by  Igor Bezinović has officially become the most watched Croatian documentary since regaining independence.

    The film has had 27,052 admissions to date, surpassing the previous record held by Novo novo vrijeme (2001) by Rajko Grlic, Igor Mirkovic, and Ivan Mirkovic, according to the Croatian Audiovisual Centre.

    In Rijeka, the film has also made local history, becoming the most viewed title ever shown at the city’s Art-kino cinema.

    Fiume o morte! has been picked up by the Swiss-French sales agent Lightdox ahead of its premiere in the Tiger Competition section of the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025, where it won the Tiger Award and the FIPRESCI Award.

    Shot in two years, the film reconstructs the events in which the Italian poet Gabrielle D'Annunzio, accompanied by about a thousand rebellious Italian soldiers, captured the city of Rijeka / Fiume in September 1919 and declared it his own micro-nation.

    Fiume o morte! was produced by Restart (Croatia) in coproduction with Videomante (Italy) and Nosorogi (Slovenia), with support from the Croatian Audiovisual CentreEurimages, the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Regional Fund Friuli Venezia Giulia, the Slovenian Film CentreViba Film, Creative Europe - MEDIA, the Croatian Television, the Slovenian TelevisionRE-ACT, the City of Rijeka, the City of Zagreb, Friuli Venezia Giulia Film Commission, ANGOA – PROCIREP, and the Croatian Film Directors Guild.