Slovenian film guide 2026

Fiume o morte!

by Igor Bezinović

Fiume o morte!, 2025, documentary, co-production, digital DCP, 1,77:1 (16:9), 25, c, 112 min

HR, IT, SI

Finished

In 1919, outraged by the outcome of the Paris Peace Conference, which proposed handing the city of Fiume (now Rijeka) to Croatia, Italian poet, aristocrat, and army officer Gabriele D’Annunzio declared the Italian Regency of Carnaro. The ensuing 16-month occupation stands as one of history’s most peculiar experiments in governance. Igor Bezinović revisits this singular episode just over a century later, employing the help of his fellow Rijeka’s citizens in a bid to reclaim history and tell their version of what happened.
Igor Bezinović
Igor Bezinović from Rijeka, Croatia, studied philosophy, sociology and literature at the University of Zagreb, after which he trained as a filmmaker at the Zagreb Academy of the Dramatic Art. His first full-length documentary was The Blockade (2012) received the Oktavijan prize for best Croatian documentary and his hybrid feature A Brief Excursion (2017), which premiered in Rotterdam, and received the Big Golden Arena prize for best Croatian feature. His original and engaged work has been cele…
Awards
Festival Award Year
European Film Award (Academy Award), best film (Documentary, European)
2025
18. CinEast
Award (Audience Award), best film
2025
28th Festival of Slovenian Film
Vesna Award (Jury Award), best cinematography
Vesna Award (Jury Award), best film (Minority co-production)
2025
54th International Film Festival Rotterdam
FIPRESCI Award (Jury of Critics Award), best film
2025
54th International Film Festival Rotterdam
Tiger Award (Jury Award), best film
2025
72nd Pula Film Festival
Golden Arena (Jury Award), best directing (Croatian)
Golden Arena (Jury Award), best costume design (Croatian)
Golden Arena (Jury Award), best production design (Croatian)
Golden Arena (Jury Award), best production (Croatian)
Golden Arena (Jury Award), best casting (Croatian)
Golden Arena (Jury Award), best make-up (Croatian)
2025
34th Trieste Film Festival
Laser Film Award (Jury Award), best film (Feature Length, Fiction, Work-in-progress)
2023
70th Pula Film Festival
Award (Tradercraft Award), ------- (Work-in-progress)
2023
NOSOROGI is a Ljubljana-based production studio founded in 2008 by a group of young film graduates. Managed by the producer and scriptwriter Marina Gumzi, the studio specialises in the development and production of independent short and feature films, fiction and documentary, and those that blur the boundaries between these categories. It fosters and promotes engaged research and complex creative processes, with a particular commitment to young and emerging artists. Collaborating regularly with…