Rijecki orao (2021)

Gabriele D'Annunzio and his occupation of Rijeka are one of the most bizarre and important phenomena of political and cultural life of the twentieth century. The "Rijecki orao" ("The Eagle of Fiume") documentary brings a deep insight into that phenomenon through the story of the lost and found head of the two headed eagle from the Rijeka city's tower. This symbol of Rijeka was decapitated in 1919 and for the next one hundred years it was considered to have been destroyed. The missing head was then discovered on the courtyard wall of the Italian estate/museum Vittoriale degli Italiani, where D'Annunzio had retreated after the expulsion from Rijeka, by Italian historian Federico Carlo Simonelli. The authors of "Rijecki orao", the screenwriter and the director, happened to visit Vittoriale at that exact time, in the year of the discovery, and spent the next few years working on the film. This documentary tells the story of the eagle, D'Annunzio and Rijeka, yet unspoken, from the perspective of both sides, Croatian and Italian experts. It was filmed in authentic, visually impressive locations in Rijeka and Italy, in two languages, alongside opulent archival material and a detailed analysis of the controversial character and work of D'Annunzio. "Rijecki orao" takes us into the past and the present of Croatian Kvarner, across the unforgettable and vast Vittoriale estate, to D'Annunzio's villa on lake Garda, whose gardens are filled with history- alongside the eagle from Rijeka, there are lots of other objects considered missing from cities throughout Croatian coast, namely, Split, Sibenik, Zadar. At present, they form part of D'Annunzio's symbolic collection of memories that this movie unveils for the first time in history.