Fiume o morte!

Die yes, live no! This was the motto of the flamboyant Italian officer, poet, dandy, aristocrat and fascist Gabriele D’Annunzio. In 1919, he decided to single-handedly occupy the Croatian city Rijeka (Fiume). So with his dedicated section of the Italian army, he took the port city and occupied it for 16 months. 16 crazy months full of poetry, dynamite, cocaine, sunbathing, machine guns, endless speeches, football – and which ends with the bald D’Annunzio declaring war on his own country. In the imaginative and deeply original Fiume o Morte!, modern-day residents of Rijeka are cast and interviewed and asked to reconstruct the dramatic occupation. But as the bizarre occupation resurfaces in the crowded streets of the city, it evolves into a thought-provoking film about how absurd, fascist ideas are always just an arm’s length away. An enigmatic hybrid movie and the funniest and most unorthodox history lesson of the year. Winner of the Tiger Award (Best Film), at the International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR). 

Supported by Italian Cultural Institute