Restart’s feature-length documentary-fiction film “Fiume o morte!” by Igor Bezinović continues its great series of festival screenings and awards. The jury of the 16th UnderhillFest in Podgorica, composed of: director Tiha K. Gudac, director Luka Papić and director Sead Šabotić, unanimously decided that the Maslačak Award – best film in the regional selection should go to “Fiume o morte!” directed by Igor Bezinović. Earlier in June, the 34th International Film Festival Innsbruck in Austria ended, where “Fiume o morte!” was declared the best documentary film in the international competition. This was the decision of the jury, composed of Sascha Lara Bleurer, film selector of various international festivals and director of the Human Rights Film Festival in Zurich, Theo Montoya, award-winning Colombian director, and Mara Prohaska Marković, festival selector, critic and director of the Beldocs Festival in Belgrade. The UnderhillFest jury explained its award as follows: “We live in a time that reminds us every day of the dangers of the past. Ideologies that we believed were defeated – like fascism – are coming back, more perfidious and masked by modern language, but still devastating. At a time when we are watching the war in Ukraine, the genocide in Gaza and new conflicts around the world, the film Fiume o morte! comes as a strong warning. Through the story of the fascist rule of Gabriele D’Annunzio in Rijeka, director Igor Bezinović takes us back to the period between the two wars and shows how power, when not restrained by law or morality, leaves deep scars on society. This is not just a film about the past “Fiume o morte!” is a bold author’s commentary, full of irony, based on a lesser-known archive and a precise insight into today’s moment. Bezinović does not avoid difficult topics – he exposes myths and confronts revisionism in contemporary Croatia”.
