Timestamp

In the years since the Russian invasion, war rages on. In towns across Ukraine, schools try to provide a kind of normalcy for children—despite some classrooms damaged by bombs and others reduced to rubble. Regardless of their surroundings, kids recite rhymes, make friends, learn English, and awkwardly practice for their spring dance. As soon as it feels like just another day at school, an air raid alarm pierces the air and children immediately rely on their survival skills. Kateryna Gornostai (Berlinale Crystal Bear winner Stop-Zemlia) makes her documentary feature debut with this cinema vérité work featuring poignant observations of persistence. Shot between March 2023 and June 2024, the film bears witness to how the ordinary act of attending school becomes an extraordinary feat of reliance with parents and teachers fighting to ensure their children have access to the transformative power of knowledge. A portrait of childhoods caught in the maw of war, Timestamp presents a generation learning lessons of resistance alongside math and history.—Bedatri Choudhury