ABOUT THE MOVIE
Poetry, cocaine, dynamite, guns, football, airplanes, furniture flying out of windows, concerts, prisons, sunbathing, thousands of soldiers, millions of bullets, endless speeches—and even a platypus. These are all parts of one of the most bizarre occupations in human history.
In 1919, Italian poet, dandy, and war preacher Gabriele D’Annunzio occupied the city of Rijeka. The citizens of Rijeka—known as Fiume to the Italians—recount and reinterpret the bizarre story of the 16-month-long occupation of their city in a brutally factual, yet defiantly punk cinematic journey.
Igor Bezinović
Igor Bezinović is a filmmaker born in Rijeka, which is now part of Croatia, but at that time belonged to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, before that partly the Kingdom of Italy and partly the Kingdom of Yugoslavia (and before that the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes), before that the Free State of Fiume, before that the Italian Regency of Carnaro, before that Austria-Hungary… His films include The Blockade (Oktavijan prize for best Croatian documentary in 2012), Veruda (Oktavijan prize for best Croatian documentary in 2015) and A Brief Excursion (Big Golden Arena prize for best Croatian feature in 2017), along with many shorts of all shapes and sizes. His work has been shown internationally at events including IFF Rotterdam, DOK Leipzig, IDFF Jihlava, CPH:DOX, Kurzfilmtage Winterthur, Biennale of Young Artists from Europe and the Mediterranean, Venice Biennale of Architecture (with Hrvoslava Brkušić for Pulska grupa), Museum of the Moving Image, Viennale and the Guanajuato IFF. He graduated in film directing at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb and in Philosophy, Sociology and Comparative Literature at the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Zagreb. He is a member of The Croatian Film Directors’ Guild and the judo club Black Belt.
www.igorbezinovic.net
Festivals where the film was screened:
- 2025 Sarajevo Film Festival ( Sarajevo, BA) Program ‘Dealing with the past’
- 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival ( Melbourne, AU) Program ‘Doc Visions’
- 2025 New Zealand International Film Festival (Novi Zeland, NZ) In competition ‘Frames’
- 2025 Guanatajo International Film Festival (Guanajuato, MX) Feature-length documentary competition
- 2025 Yerevan International Film Festival (GOLDEN APRICOT) (Yerevan, AM) Main international competition
- 2025 Pula Film Festival (Pula, HR) Croatian film competition
- 2025 Shangai International Film Festival ( Shanghai, CN) Out of competiotion programme "International Panorama"
- 2025 Beldocs ( Beograd, RS) Programme ‘Fireworks’
- 2025 Primavera di Bellezza (Torino, IT)
- 2025 Dokfest Munchen (Munchen, DE) International competition ‘Reframing History: Films Exploring how the Past Shapes our Present’
- 2025 Crossing Europe (Linz, AT) Programme Documentary Panorama
- 2025 One world Romania ( Bukurešt, RO)
- 2025 CPH:DOX (Kopenhagen, DK) Backstory competition
- 2025 New Directors/New Films (New York, US)
- 2025 International Rotterdam Film Festival ( Rotterdam, NL) ‘Tiger’ competition
Awards and recognitions received:
- 2025 Tiger Nagrada (Najbolji Film) & Fipresci Nagrada International Rotterdam Film Festival (Rotterdam, NL)
- 2025 Best documentary film International Film Festival Innsbruck (Innsburck, AU)
- 2025 Dandelion Award (Best Regional Film) Underhill Fest (Podgorica, ME)
- 2025 Golden Arena for Best Director Pula Film Festival (Pula, HR)
- 2025 Golden Arena for best production Pula Film Festival (Pula, HR)
- 2025 Golden Arena for Best Costume Design Pula Film Festival (Pula, HR)
- 2025 Golden Arena for best scenography Pula Film Festival (Pula, HR)
- 2025 Golden Arena for casting Pula Film Festival (Pula, HR)
- 2025 Goden Arena for mask Pula Film Festival (Pula, HR)
- 2025 Vedran Šamanović Award for Innovative Approach in Croatian Film Pula Film Festival (Pula, HR)
- 2025 Golden Apricot Award (Best film) Yerevan International Film Festival (Yerevan, AM)
