Berlinale 2025 Review: TIMESTAMP, School During War in Ukraine

Shot over a 14-month period, Timestamp looks at the Ukrainian war from the perspective of school children. It's a brilliant approach to the conflict, because who would wish harm on a child?

Writer and director Kateryna Gornostai focuses on a half-dozen or so schools, some, like Zarichne, as close as ten miles from the front. Conditions vary enormously. At Citerkasy, over a hundred miles from the war, the school is a bright, vibrant place of safety. At Zarichne, where the buildings have been destroyed, classes take place over Zoom.

But even far from the front, war looms over the children. Every day, students observe a moment of silence for fallen soldiers. They have safety drills, learn first aid, experiment with drones as weapons, prepare "grab and go" bags. Veterans tell them about what it's like in battle.

The wide canvas means the filmmakers can't spend much time focusing on individuals. Even so, many teachers stand out for their spirit and optimism. One takes the cameras on a tour of her bombed-out school, retrieving toys and photos from rubble.

Timestamp avoids battles, troop deployments, arsenals — the day-to-day, life-or-death struggles of war. Similarly, we don't hear from politicians, generals, pundits, dissenters, or anyone outside the immediate education system. The point-of-view is determinedly upbeat and positive.

The documentary has been criticized as propaganda, in part because it was sponsored by the Ukrainian government. But sponsored movies aren't necessarily false. No one in the film comments on the external events that brought about the war, no one criticizes political leaders.

Instead, we see students whose childhoods have been shattered, whose dreams and hopes fell victim to bombs and casualties, whose everyday lives have been shaped by a war they didn't choose.

So, yes, Timestamp is one-sided propaganda in the sense that we don't learn about borders, about a history of incursions and land grabs, about animosities nurtured over generations. We only see how children are being hurt. How they huddle for safety in basements, try to take classes in subways, mourn missing parents and relatives.

With recent political developments in the United States, it's more important than ever to understand what is at stake in Ukraine. Timestamp shows a narrow slice of the conflict, but perhaps the most crucial one. It shows why the free world must continue to support Ukraine.

The film enjoyed its world premiere at the 2025 Berlinale, the first Ukrainian film screened in Competition.

Photos © Oleksandr Roshchyn