Participant in the Competition
of the 75th Berlin International Film Festival
A film by “Сrystal Bear” winner
Kateryna Gornostai
Timestamp is a part of a tourniquet: it's crucial to mark the time of applying a hemostatic device to prevent the loss of blood-starved tissue.
About the film
Keeping schools open in Ukraine is an attempt to recreate at least some of the normal life they had before the war — until February 24, 2022 (and in some regions even earlier, in 2014). Without the interviews, narration and reenactments, TIMESTAMP provides an insight into how the war is affecting the daily lives of students and teachers. The film has a mosaic-like structure: it explores how a school functions in-person and online in these terrible times, both on and off the frontline, how day-to-day life is intertwined with constant danger.
By intimately documenting a year in the lives of students and teachers in Ukraine as they face the challenges of schooling during wartime, the film sheds light on how the war shapes the educational experience.
TIMESTAMP / watch the Trailer
Campaign
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine,
around 3,500 educational institutions have been
damaged — 400 completely reduced to rubble.
Almost half of Ukrainian schools cannot function
during winter blackouts caused by the destruction
of the power grid.
1,800 schools in Ukraine have no bomb shelters,
making it impossible for them to operate amid daily
drone and missile strikes.
More than 7 million children in Ukraine have had
their lives shattered by war.
This is the brutal reality. And yet, education fights to survive. Ukrainian teachers continue teaching and providing a sense of normalcy for their students amidst constant danger.
The documentary about education during the war was initiated by Osvitoria, a nonprofit driving systemic change in Ukrainian education for over a decade. As the film’s executive producer, Osvitoria leads a worldwide impact campaign to restore access to education in Ukraine. Join us in making a difference — contact us at [email protected] or donate below.
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Kateryna Gornostai, director and screenwriter
Nowadays, every schoolchild, unfortunately, knows what a tourniquet is and how to use it, as it is now part of school education in Ukraine. But this is not the main theme of the film.
We focused on ordinary and simple school experiences, like tears during the first bell ceremony, a senior student playing the role of St. Nicholas, or colorful ribbons in the hands of graduates.
All of this, of course, is now imbued with the context of war: students often study in shelters during air raid alerts, the principal shows the destroyed and sealed-off part of the school while lessons continue in another wing, and at an online graduation, a bell, evacuated from Bakhmut, rings out.
The war has deeply penetrated this daily life, but we have no choice but to continue living and learning.
Filmmakers
Produced by
2BRAVE PRODUCTIONS in association with OSVITORIA (Ukraine), in coproduction with a_BAHN (Luxemburg), RINKEL DOCS (The Netherlands), in association with CINEPHAGE PRODUCTIONS (France).
Executive producer
ZOYA LYTVYN
Producers
NATALIA LIBET
OLGA BREGMAN
VICTOR SHEVCHENKO
Writer and director
KATERYNA GORNOSTAI
Editor
NIKON ROMANCHENKO
Cinematographer
OLEKSANDR ROSHCHYN
Music composer
ALEXEY SHMURAK
Sound
PAVLO MELNYK
MYKHAILO ZAKUTSKY
LODE WOLTERSOM
ARTEM KOSYNSKYI
Contacts
The impact campaign to restore
Ukraine’s access to education
[email protected]International Sales:
Best Friend Forever
Martin Gondre:
[email protected]Charles Bin:
[email protected]Polar Vaes:
[email protected]Marc Nauleau
(Festivals):
[email protected]For international media inquiries:
Claudiatomassini & Associates
Lorenzo Ormando:
[email protected]Claudia Tomassini:
[email protected]For Ukrainian media inquiries:
Anastasiia Pugach:
[email protected]
