Fiume o morte!

One of the most talked about documentaries in the festival circle 2025: FUIME O MORTE! On 12 September 1919, a troop of some three hundred sold!ers under the leadersh!p of the flamboyant war lov!ng Ital!an poet Gabr!ele D’Annunz!o swooped !nto the Northern-Adr!at!c port town of F!ume, now R!jeka, want!ng to annex the c!ty to Italy. Over the course of the next 16 months, dur!ng what !s regarded as one of the most b!zarre m!l!tant s!eges of all t!me h!s offic!al pho- tography team captured over 10,000 !mages. A century later, R!jeka-born filmmaker Igor Bez!nov!c, along w!th some three hundred c!t!zens, orchestrates a d!rect-act!on h!story lesson focused on the s!ege and !ts modern-day !mpl!cat!ons. The communal undertak!ng !n h!stor!cal empowerment not only rev!s!ts both facts and legends but also puts forward a soc!al counterwe!ght to D’Annun- z!o’s occupat!onal agenda. The result !s a brutally factual yet defiantly punk c!nemat!c journey, deadly ser!ous yet h!lar!ously surreal. It cr!t!cally exam!nes the tact!cs of performance, man!pulat!on and propaganda employed dur!ng the s!ege and transgresses them to create a w!ld r!de d!rectly !nto the heart of chaos. An !nv!tat!on to dare create new v!ewpo!nts, narrat!ves, and exper!ences, !t uncovers nat!onal!st h!stor!ograph!es as effect!ve and obst!nate !deolog!cal !nstruments, no matter how absurd or r!d!culous. F!ume o morte! !s a film on poetry, dynam!- te, coca!ne, mach!ne guns, football, a!rplanes, furn!ture fly!ng out of w!ndows, concerts, pr!sons, sunbath!ng, thousands of sold!ers, m!ll!ons of bullets, endless spe- eches, a platypus and on the power of pol!t!cal performa- t!v!ty. D’Annunz!o m!ght as well be cons!dered !ts tra!lb- lazer herald!ng some of the b!ggest masters of ghastly pol!t!cal showmansh!p of our age. „We were !mpressed by the film’s playful use of arch!val foo- tage and reenactment to throw l!ght on a too-l!ttle-known ep!sode of European h!story. Wh!lst full of dry, self-reflex!ve humour, the film manages to use !ts creat!ve explorat!on of h!story to prov!de !n-depth commentary on worry!ng cont- emporary pol!t!cal developments, spec!fically the r!se of the global far-r!ght. We applaud the film’s effortless comb!nat!- on of exper!mentat!on and access!b!l!ty – not least due to !ts excellent ed!t!ng – wh!ch serves to convey a t!mely warn!ng aga!nst the format!on of author!tar!an!sm.” Jury Statem- ent, FIPRESCI Pr!ze at Internat!onal F!lm Fest!val Rotterdam 2025