Timestamp

Keeping the schools in Ukraine open is an attempt to maintain a small part of normal life from before the war. TIMESTAMP offers an intimate and direct insight into the daily life of students and teachers, on the front as well as in areas further removed from the front. The documentary observes how schools function, physically and online, and how they deal with a situation that does not improve learning. Focused and committed, they continue to teach in the midst of air raid sirens, in bomb shelters and full of insecurity.

Director Kateryna Gornostai and her small crew followed the students and teachers for a year with the purpose of showing how a close-knit society tries to hold on to humanity and hope for the future while being under enormous pressure. The war is tangible and visible everywhere in the ruins of what used to be lively neighbourhoods. But the sun still shines, the lessons continue and the children and teachers try to maintain a notion of normality, despite the constant threat. The film emphasises the resilience, courage and dedication of people who try to give their children a future during wartime. TIMESTAMP shows us that the devastation of the war does not dim the lights of hope, but demonstrates once again why children are the future.