Land of Knowledge

On April 2009 students begin their 35-day occupation of the lecture theatres in Zagreb University’s faculty of humanities and social sciences. Free education for one and all, they chant, demanding the immediate abolition of university fees. But their protests fall on deaf ears: the Croatian government ignores the occupiers. Alongside the euphoria of youthful revolt the film shows the associated conflicts and frustration, the self-preoccupation and ultimate limitations. Restrained but illuminating images contrast strikingly with the verbosity of the meetings, conveying the emotions underlying this filmic chronology of protest.