_a Ukrainian school year during wartime
_Synopsis
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.
_Technical sheet
Format: feature-length documentary
Running time: 120'
Status: In production
Year: 2025
Versions: English, Dutch, Ukrainian, French
Author: Kateryna GORNOSTAI
Director: Kateryna GORNOSTAI
Producers: François LE GALL, Marion GUTH, Natalia LIBET, Olha BREGMAN, Rinskje RAAP, Victor EDE
Production companies: a_BAHN (LU), 2 Brave Productions (UA), Rinkel Film (NL), Cinephage (FR)
International Sales: Best Friend Forever
Broadcasters: Suspilne (UA)
With the support of: Film Fund Luxembourg (LU), ESFUF (EU/FR), Osvitoria (UA), Documenting Ukraine (UA), International Media Support (UA/DK), Eurimages New Lab Outreach Award (EU), Steunfonds Oekraïense makers - Nederlands Letterenfonds (NL), Région Sud (FR)
Kateryna Gornostai
Film Director
Kateryna Gornostai was born in Lutsk in 1989.
She studied biology and later journalism at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 2012–2013, Kateryna studied documentary filmmaking at Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov’s School of Documentary Films and Theatre. Afterward, she came back home to Kyiv and started a career as a documentary film director. In 2013, her graduation film, Between Us, took part in the national competition at the «Molodist» film festival.
In the winter of 2013–2014, Kateryna was actively documenting the events of the Revolution of Dignity. The result of this work was two short films Masha’s Peaceful Protest and Lenin’s Teeth, which were included in the anthology Euromaidan Rough Cut. The film was shown at the opening of the Docudays UA Film Festival and took part in more than 30 festivals worldwide, including Jihlava IDFF and IDFA. She’s also made the short film Maidan is Everywhere, which got the Andriy Matrosov Award at the Docudays UA Film Festival in 2015.
Later, Kateryna Gornostai began to work with feature films and hybrid forms. Stop-Zemlia is the director’s fiction feature debut, which premiered in the Generation 14+ competition of 2021 Berlinale International Film Festival and received the main «Crystal Bear» award from the Youth Jury. She also teaches film directing at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Kateryna currently lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Kateryna Gornostai was born in Lutsk in 1989.
She studied biology and later journalism at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 2012–2013, Kateryna studied documentary filmmaking at Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov’s School of Documentary Films and Theatre. Afterward, she came back home to Kyiv and started a career as a documentary film director. In 2013, her graduation film, Between Us, took part in the national competition at the «Molodist» film festival.
In the winter of 2013–2014, Kateryna was actively documenting the events of the Revolution of Dignity. The result of this work was two short films Masha’s Peaceful Protest and Lenin’s Teeth, which were included in the anthology Euromaidan Rough Cut. The film was shown at the opening of the Docudays UA Film Festival and took part in more than 30 festivals worldwide, including Jihlava IDFF and IDFA. She’s also made the short film Maidan is Everywhere, which got the Andriy Matrosov Award at the Docudays UA Film Festival in 2015.
Later, Kateryna Gornostai began to work with feature films and hybrid forms. Stop-Zemlia is the director’s fiction feature debut, which premiered in the Generation 14+ competition of 2021 Berlinale International Film Festival and received the main «Crystal Bear» award from the Youth Jury. She also teaches film directing at the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
Kateryna currently lives and works in Kyiv, Ukraine.
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