‘Timestamp’ Kateryna Gornostai’s Documentary Sheds Light on Ukraine’s War-Worn Schools | Trailer

Coverage on the conflict between Ukraine and Russia has been plentiful in the past three years, and the documentary Timestamp, directed by Kateryna Gornostai, seeks to give more depth to citizens and children in the war-stricken country.

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 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 front-line, how day-to-day life is intertwined with constant danger.

In an interview for the film, Gornostai spoke about an event that took place while filming and how it reflected on the bigger narrative, “An air raid alarm began to sound, so everyone moved into the basement, and instead of wasting time, they began a tactical medicine lecture. A soldier was giving the lesson, and the kids, also dressed in camouflage, were listening — it was incredibly telling. It’s cynical, but we were looking for such stories so that the context would say a lot about the time we live in.”

Timestamp had its world premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival, where it was nominated for Best Film. It was shown at several other film festivals, such as San Francisco International Film Festival and New Horizons International Film Festival, and received a theatrical release in France. The film will play at the Museum of Modern Art in New York on November 27th, then at Laemmle Theaters in Los Angeles on December 17th, and will release digitally on OVID.tv and Amazon Prime on December 19th.

Jordan Mintzer from The Hollywood Reporter wrote about the resilience of the children in Timestamp, “In one unforgettable scene, a little girl heads into her school library for a reading session, only to break down when she sees a photo of her dead father alongside portraits of other fallen soldiers. And yet minutes later she’s managed to pick out a book and get to work. Timestamp reveals many things during its captivating two hours, and one of them is that kids — even those who’ve been through hell — have short memories, which is what helps keep them going.”

Watch the official trailer for Timestamp above.