Not a Carwash (2012)

Tirana, Albania. On the grounds where the country's first film studio once lay, film director Kujtim Cashku has established a pioneering film school. It soon becomes a hub for the country's artistic community, in a country notably lacking in cultural outlets. The trouble is, the land that the film school is on is now being eyed up by corporations beginning to invest in the former communist country. And the police, at the behest of the government, are only too eager to storm in and shut the film school down. We follow the action over four tense days as a press conference evolves into a full blown occupation and the police advance with determination on outraged students and professors. Gentian Koçi's documentary captures the dramatic days that followed when students, professors, activists, and lovers of cinema battled to save the outdoor movie screen from destruction by police and corporate interests. On this small battleground, a very big question is being asked - just what role should the state have in nurturing - or destroying - a nation's cultural heart?