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The five-year-old Maribu Academy’s fight to retain ownership of an outside theatre and gardens (where a human rights film festival was planned for April 2009) in the face of government attempts to turn them into a car park for a nearby TV studio had been rumbling on for five weeks when the government body Albafilm attempted to erect fencing around the entrance.

Kujtim Cashku, the head of the academy, told the media, ‘There were two fences around the entrance to the academy. It looked like a small prison, with a fence and gate and another fence and gate before the entrance of the school.   It is now 35 days since we've had proper access by vehicle to the academy, which is our only way of getting filmmaking equipment in and out. This means students cannot make the movies they need to as part of their academic projects.’

 An internet petition supporting the Academy’s tutors and students attracted thousands of signatures, including directors Gus Van Sant, Nick Broomfield, Jon Jost, Richard Linklater, Abel Ferrara, Chris Hegedus, D.A. Pennebaker and Albert Maysles.

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