Claude Laflamme

Berri and Ste-Catherine, at 8:30 a.m. on June 19, traffic was paralyzed by 8 individuals, who appeared from who knows where. The hidden cameras see everything. This film won the Special Jury Prize at the 1st Montreal International Art Film Festival.

This film traces the history of the École des beaux-arts de Montréal, from its founding in 1923 to its dissolution in 1969, when it was integrated into the Université du Québec à Montréal. At that time, tensions were rising within the education system: CEGEPs and universities were being occupied by students. In this climate of protest, the students of the École des beaux-arts seized control of their institution and declared self-management, establishing the “Republic of the Beaux-Arts” — a collective creation reinvented day by day; a true living cultural manifesto.