Timestamp

How do preschoolers, elementary school children and teenagers in Ukraine cope with the ever-present threat of violence and evacuation? Filmmaker Kateryna Gonorstai traveled across the country to find answers.

Along the way, it becomes clear that the war manifests itself everywhere, even in places that seem peaceful. In Kamianske, a school celebration is disrupted by an air-raid alarm. In Mykolaiv, preschoolers learn about aid packages and avoiding dangerous toys. And in liberated Borodianka, a teacher gives online lessons to her evacuee students from her backyard.

Rather than following traditional narrative lines, Timestamp moves ever closer to the battlefront. The closer we get to the hostilities, the greater the destruction—with schools becoming targets as well. But even less than 10 miles from Russian troops, children still attend classes and discuss friendship and empathy. Gonorstai ends her journey in the besieged and ravaged city of Bakhmut, where the graduation ceremony must be held online. Nevertheless, hope for peace remains alive in these children—the generation that will one day have to rebuild the country.