In defiance of the Paris Peace Conference Italian poet and military officer Gabriele D’Annunzio led a rogue, short-lived, and ultranationalist occupation of Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia) in 1919. Over a century later, filmmaker Igor Bezinović revisits this strange historical episode, blending archive, reenactment and interviews with residents in the present, interrogating how a city remembers and forgets, and the enduring presence of European fascism.

A stark and peculiar lesson in the history that is not past, Fiume o morte! (Fiume or death!) won the Tiger Award at the International Film Festival Rotterdam 2025 and is Croatia’s submission for the Oscars.

Film writer Savina Petkova discusses the film with director Igor.

Ken Loach’s longtime collaborator Rebecca O’Brien joins Gareth Evans for a discussion following Sweet Sixteen, showing as part of Ken Loach: A Retrospective at the Garden Cinema.

This is also available as a podcast, if you prefer to listen on the go:

Director Paul Andrew Williams and actors Andrea Riseborough and Brenda Blethyn join host Joe Miller and a Garden Cinema audience to discuss Dragonfly.

Recorded on 8th November 2025 at The Garden Cinema

Also available to listen to as a podcast:

Ken Loach on his controversial, underseen, and outrightly suppressed films, including The Gamekeeper, The Navigators, The Save The Children Fund Film, Which Side Are You On?, and A Question of Leadership. Part of our season, Ken Loach: A Retrospective.

Also available to listen to as a podcast:

Recorded at The Garden Cinema on October 27th 2025.

Lebanon in the UK: Diaspora Shorts was a programme of short films by 5 (women) Lebanese filmmakers based in the UK, part of our season: New Lebanese Cinema: Reclaiming Storytelling. The season is focused on contemporary filmmaking in Lebanon which sees a new generation of directors telling authentic stories of life on the ground, eschewing as much as possible some of the constraints of European financing bodies and co-productions.

The five filmmakers discuss filmmaking in Lebanon today and what it means to be part of the diaspora.

https://www.thegardencinema.co.uk/film/lebanon-in-the-uk-diaspora-shorts/

The Greek actress, best known for Yorgos Lanthimos’ Alps, Dogtooth, and The Lobster, and currently to be seen in Mahdi Fleifel’s To A Land Unknown, discusses Yannis Oukonomides’ Matchbox and Greek cinema with Erifili Missiou, the curator of the Garden Cinema’s Contemporary Greek Cinema: Beyond the Weird Wave season. 

A special event to mark the re-publication by leading London independent press Prototype of a facsimile edition of Derek Jarman’s early, extremely rare and only poetry book A Finger in the Fishes Mouth, originally published in 1972.

Joining publisher Jess Chandler and editor Gareth Evans are poet and writer CAConrad and scholar Declan Wiffen. With thanks to James Mackay.

Download this episode or listen to more podcast episodes on your usual podcast service by heading to:
https://thegardencinemafilmtalk.podbean.com/

Recorded 30th November 2024 at The Garden Cinema

Mark Cousins talks about his latest film A Sudden Glimpse to Deeper Things, hosted by journalist Wendy Mitchell, and featuring some surprise guests in the audience.

This Q&A is also available to listen to as a podcast:

Recorded on 13th October 2024 at The Garden Cinema
39-41 Parker Street London WC2B 5PQ