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.