Fiume o morte!
Fiume o morte! is a 2025 comedy docudrama film written and directed by. A co-production of Croatia, Italy and Slovenia, it features reenactments and reconstructions of Gabriele D'Annunzio's occupation of Rijeka.
It premiered at the 54th International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won the Tiger Award. At the 72nd Pula Film Festival, the film won six Golden Arenas, including Best Director for Bezinović. At the 38th European Film Awards, it won Best Documentary. It was selected as the Croatian entry for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards, but it was not nominated.
Premise
Residents of present-day Rijeka, Croatia reenact images of Gabriele D'Annunzio's 1919–1920 occupation of the city.Cast
- Actors portraying Gabriele D'Annunzio:
- * Ćenan Beljulji
- * Tihomir Buterin
- * Andrea Marsanich
- *
- * Massimo Ronzani
- * Milovan Večerina Cico
- * Albano Vučetić
- Lovro Mirth as Guido Keller and a narrator
- Tonka Mršić as Luisa Baccara
- Renzo Chiepolo as Vittorio Emanuele Pittaluga and a narrator
- Goran Pavlić as Antonio Grossich
- Nikola Tutek as Guglielmo Marconi
- Silvana Zorich as the lady reading a poem and a narrator
- Noemi Dessardo as the dancing Fiuman girl and a narrator
- Sara Marsanich as Antonia Copetti and a narrator
- Sandro Ferletta as the officer leaving D'Annunzio and a narrator
- Igor Domijan as a musician in D'Annunzio's band
- Berislav Pavišić as a musician in D'Annunzio's band
- Ivo Šubat as the accordion player
- D'Annunzio's officers:
- * Zoran Antić
- * Zoran Baldo
- * Šemsi Beljulji
- * Igor Broznić
- * Zoran Ćupić
- * Tihomir Dujakovič
- * Albi Enesi
- * Aleksej Lipizer
- * Željko Matovina
- * Branimir Paškvan
- * Albert Petrović
- * Eugen Starčević
- * Edvin Šabanović
- * Goran Šarić
- * Remzi Tatari
- * Zoran Zubović
- * Zoran Ždral
- Soldiers playing "Giovinezza":
- * Zoltan David
- * Jasmin Okanović
- * Petar Tepšić
- Killed D'Annunzio's legionaries:
- * Renato Barićevac
- * Aldin Bećar
- * Eldin Bećar
- * Antonio Blašković
- * Andreas Božić
- * Lino Brkić
- * Josip Buzuk
- * Jakov Crvić
- * Edi Dizdarević
- * Teo Đurović
- * Mateo Kos
- * Mark David Lajoš
- * Vito Lončar
- * Benjamin Miočić Stošić
- * Gabriel Palavra Vučković
- * Tin Pribanić
- * Andrei Uzelac
- * Benjamin Žuna
Production
Director grew up in Rijeka. Regarding his approach for the film, he stated, "It's like a history lesson but retold in a fun way. In high school, I didn't like history that much because I didn't have a good storyteller, and history is basically about the art of telling a story. You can combine storytelling with facts, and it doesn't have to be terribly boring. It can be fun."Principal photography was completed by mid-July 2022. The film was shot in Rijeka and Trieste, as well as at the Vittoriale degli Italiani in Gardone Riviera and in the Italian part of the Karst Plateau.