School life continues in Ukraine. Students and teachers educational experience is shaped by the war. Day-to-day life is intertwined with constant danger. They become the symbol of the courage and resilience of a society defending its own culture as a path for a brighter future.
Director
Kateryna Gornostai was born in Lutsk in 1989. She graduated with a degree in biology and later studied journalism at Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 2012–2013, Kateryna studied documentary filmmaking at Marina Razbezhkina’s School of Documentary Films and Theater. She returned to Kyiv during the Revolution of Dignity to film the events. Later, she started exploring narrative and hybrid forms of filmmaking. STOP-ZEMLIA, director’s narrative feature debut, premiered in the Generation 14plus 2021 at the 71st Berlin International Film Festival and received the Crystal Bear Award from the Youth Jury. She lives and works in Kyiv, and teaches film directing.
Cast & crew
PRODUCERS
2Brave Productions
Coproduced by a_Bahn (Zero Impunity, Draw For Change) & Rinkel Docs
In association with Cinephage Productions
Festivals and awards
- BERLINALE 2025 - COMPETITION
“A Beautifully Observed Ukrainian Doc on the Perils and Pleasures of Schooltime in Wartime… A bright beam of hope that feels both unforced and hard-earned."
“There can’t possibly be a more timely film in the Berlinale lineup this year than Kateryna Gornostai’s Timestamp… Gornostai paints a surprisingly optimistic portrait… Nicolas Philibert’s intimate 2002 film Etre et Avoir must surely have been an influence here.”
“A powerful, fractured portrait of school days in Ukraine… An impressive and timely picture that should spark plenty of interest among distributors and could figure in awards conversations going forward… A supremely confident work from Gornostai.”
