Ukrainian filmmaker Kateryna Gornostai makes a case for optimism with the Berlinale doc “Timestamp.”
“It’s a sad film, but there’s a lot of hope in these kids and in our education system that still works. It was crucial to make a film about war, but war is not in the frame,” she told Variety.
Bowing in Berlinale’s main competition, “Timestamp” follows Ukrainian students and teachers, trying to maintain normalcy despite constant danger and the world’s waning interest in their plight.
“We were afraid of [Donald] Trump winning the [U.S.] presidential seat again. But you know, the worst has already happened: we lost our people and our families. At this point, we’re a bit fatalistic. So now … We just observe,” she said.
“Sometimes, when you meet a Ukrainian, they can overwhelm you. Our experience is stressful for others, and maybe so are our films. People are tired of ‘dealing’ with our problems and that might be why our films become less visible at festivals.”
Her “invincible” protagonists are not giving up, however, heading to school even when it moves underground.
“When we heard about Kharkiv’s metro schools, we immediately went there. These stories are really happening. It’s ironic, because we have all these big shelters because of the Soviet Union and because of the Cold War,” she said.
Gornostai looked for teachers daring to honestly address their country’s situation.
“The kids already know. They can hear air raid sirens going off every night. It would be hard to hide the truth from them,” she noted. “Some teachers and parents still try — they create this protected environment inside of their home and when someone visits, they don’t talk about politics. But then kids go to school and there are new rituals, like that daily minute of silence at 9 a.m.”
They also get to hear from those who experienced ongoing war first-hand.
“When I was young, we also had people coming over, talking about the Second World War. It felt so far away. Now, it’s not an elderly veteran: it’s a young woman and she’s been a part of this modern war. They take it seriously. When they ask, ‘Have you seen death?,’ it’s not a joke. Death is a part of their reality.” But so is prom and graduation.
“Russian invasion started right after COVID-19 pandemic, which was so hard for the kids. They were learning online, they couldn’t socialize. Then, a war breaks out. Sometimes, school is the safest place. They are not operating unless they have shelters that can fit everybody and teachers never ignore the air raids. I show the principal of a half-ruined school. Once it was allowed, he immediately opened it, because kids need it.”
They need to “experience things together,” she stressed. But some can’t go back.
“One of our protagonists has no school to return to anymore — her entire city, Bakhmut, was completely destroyed. She’s graduating online, with her friends scattered all over the country or even abroad.”
Gornostai dedicated the film to her late brother.
“He died when we were filming. He was really, really young,” she said.
“Early on, he decided he will pursue military service. I was filming all these kids and sometimes I would see his face. I was seeing him in a lot of these scenes, it was like I was hallucinating. He’s from this generation and this generation needs to live.”
She didn’t need to talk about the war with her young protagonists. After all, they are already living it.
“There were these girls, and they went to the river to film TikToks and talk. It has only been a week since the destruction of the Kakhovka Dam. It’s an ecological catastrophe: so many people have died, so many houses have been destroyed. But they didn’t bring it up: they talked about the prom, the exams, about going to university. They were waiting for their grown-up life to begin. So I didn’t ask,” she recalled.
“I went to an art studio in the Kharkiv basement, run by this wonderful teacher. I assumed children’s drawings would reflect the war. They did — at the beginning. He said: ‘Now, they want to draw beautiful things in their lives.’ I was so happy to hear that. Maybe these drawings and TikToks, and dances, are exactly what we need right now.”
“Timestamp” is produced by Olha Bregman, Natalia Libet and Victor Shevchenko for 2Brave Prods., and co-produced by Rinkel Film & Docs, a_Bahn and Cinéphage Prods. Best Friend Forever handles sales.
