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Full room and 10-minute standing ovation: Ukrainian documentary Timestamp stuns Berlinale audience
The Berlin International Film Festival (Berlinale) saw the world premiere of the documentary film Timestamp by Ukrainian filmmaker Kateryna Hornostai. The documentary, which shows Ukrainian schools in the midst of a full-scale war, caused a real stir and was warmly received by the audience.
The room was completely full during the screening, and the film's creative team was greeted by Ukrainian viewers with national flags on the red carpet. The producers Olha Bregman, Natalia Libet, Viktor Shevchenko, director of photography Oleksandr Roshchyn, sound designer Mykhailo Zakutskyi, as well as the film's protagonists - educators and students from different regions of Ukraine - received a 10-minute ovation afterward, Espresso reports.
The director Kateryna Hornostai dedicated the movie to the memory of her younger brother Maksym Hornostai, who died in eastern Ukraine in 2023. In her speech after the premiere, she emphasized the importance of preserving the voices of Ukrainian schools and children who continue to study even in the most difficult conditions.
What the movie is about
The film shows the lives of Ukrainian students and teachers during the war, including in Cherkasy, Kharkiv, Borodianka, and Bucha. The central event was the tragedy in the town of Romny in Sumy region, where a missile attack destroyed a school and killed its staff.
The movie received favorable reviews from critics. In particular, Variety called the film "a beautifully observed" documentary, and Deadline named it "the most timely film in the Berlin Film Festival lineup this year." In addition, the Timestamp team won the Eurimages New Lab Outreach Award 2024, receiving 30 thousand euros.
The Berlin International Film Festival is one of the most prestigious film festivals in the world. Timestamp is competing for the main award, the Golden Bear. This is Kateryna Hornostai's second film at the Berlinale: in 2021, her Stop-Zemlia won the Crystal Bear award.
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