Fiume o morte! becomes most watched Croatian documentary of all time

Fiume o morte! (Photo: Restart)

ZAGREB, 3 July 2025 – After a string of international accolades and glowing reviews from critics both at home and abroad, Igor Bezinović’s documentary Fiume o morte! has officially become the most watched Croatian documentary since independence.

With 27,052 viewers to date, the film has surpassed the previous record held by Novo novo vrijeme (2001), and now tops the list of highest-grossing documentaries in Croatia.

In Rijeka, the film has also made local history, becoming the most viewed title ever shown at the city’s Art-kino cinema.

The film premiered globally on 2 February at the prestigious International Film Festival Rotterdam, where it won the FIPRESCI Prize alongside the festival’s main award.

Since then, it has been selected for 35 festivals worldwide and has been met with widespread acclaim.

Fiume o morte! has already screened across Croatia and Italy, from Slavonski Brod to Split, and from Udine to Naples.

“I am happy that the story of our city of Rijeka has been recognised as both international and universal,” said director Bezinović.

The documentary will be shown at the Pula Film Festival in the Arena on Saturday 12 July at 21.30.

“I am especially looking forward to the screening in Pula, a city whose own story is closely connected to the one in our film,” he added.

Beldocs (Photo: Toma Peiu

The summer cinema run continues, with screenings scheduled throughout Dalmatia and other cities across Croatia. A Hungarian cinema release has also been confirmed for the autumn.

Beyond its record viewership, the film’s festival journey has been equally impressive. It has already been screened at over fifteen international festivals, with many more scheduled in the coming months.

Among its awards are Best Documentary at the Innsbruck International Film Festival and the main prize at UnderhillFest in Podgorica.

The Podgorica jury, composed of filmmakers Tiha K. Gudac, Luka Papić, and Sead Šabotić, unanimously awarded Fiume o morte! the Maslačak Prize for best regional film.

At Innsbruck, a panel including Zurich’s Human Rights Festival director Sascha Lara Bleurer, Colombian filmmaker Theo Montoya, and Beldocs festival director Mara Prohaska Marković named it Best Documentary in the international category.

Fiume o morte! sheds light on a little-known yet fascinating historical episode. It explores the dramatic 1919 occupation of Rijeka by Italian poet and proto-fascist Gabriele D’Annunzio.

The story is retold through a vivid mix of poetry, dynamite, football, cocaine, speeches, and even a platypus – elements that formed part of one of the strangest occupations in modern history.

A century later, the people of Rijeka reclaim their history, telling their own version of events through Bezinović’s lens.

The film was produced by Restart, with Vanja Jambrović and Tibor Keser as producers, in co-production with Slovenia’s Nosorogi (Marina Gumzi) and Italy’s Videomante (Erica Barbiani).

Bezinović, who won the Golden Arena for Best Feature Film at Pula in 2017 for Kratki izlet, returns with another ambitious and boundary-pushing work.

In Fiume o morte!, he collaborates with Rijeka’s citizens to reinterpret and reconstruct the surreal 16-month occupation of their city by D’Annunzio and his followers.

Top Five Most Watched Croatian Documentaries

1. Fiume o morte! (2025) – 27,052 viewers
2. Novo novo vrijeme (2001) – 26,678 viewers
3. Sretno dijete (2003) – 25,924 viewers
4. Ljubav oko svijeta (2021) – 17,080 viewers
5. Gazda (2016) – 12,382 viewers