Stay Online
The cruelty of war confronts people with absurd challenges and choices. A screenlife thriller, as the first Ukrainian feature film to have been shot since the beginning of the ongoing Russian invasion!
During the war, a little boy calls on a laptop of his missing dad, but a stranger girl takes the call – now, she has to risk her own family to find the boy’s dad. Seeking and dispersing information through the internet is as pertinent as it has ever been. Using the screenlife format to full effect, in her debut feature film, Yeva Strielnikova crafts a somber but honest story that will leave your heart in your throat and your eyes on the screen.
Thursday, 28 November – 21:30
Saturday, 30 November – 21:15
ENGLISH SUBTITLES | 109 MIN
DUTCH PREMIERE
STAY ONLINE | Yeva Strielnikova | 2023 | Ukraine
PRODUCTION
Anton Skrypets – Mamas Production
SCREENPLAY
Anton Skrypets, Yeva Strielnikova
SCREENLIFE MODERATOR
Mariia Perehontceva
EDITING
Victor Greenchuk
CAST
Liza Zaitseva, Oleksandr Rudynskyi, Hordii Dziubynskyi, Olesia Zhurakivska, Anton Skrypets
DIRECTOR’S BIO
Yeva Strielnikova graduated from the National University of Cinema and Television in 2008. However, by her second year, she began working at the STB channel. She created projects such as “In Search of the Truth”, “Incredible Love Stories” and “My Truth.” Since 2011, Yeva directed around 10 TV films and five TV series, mostly in the genres of melodrama, drama, and thriller. Among her best works are “Mother from Captivity,” the Ukrainian remake of “ER”, “The Investigator’s Heart”, and “The Companion”. In 2022, she co-wrote and directed her first feature film “Stay Online” which won the “Best Debut” award at the Fantasia Festival and was immediately purchased by American and German distributors. Currently, she works at AMO Pictures as a showrunner, creating short dramas, thrillers, and horror stories for audiences in the USA, Europe, and Asia.
DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
“The format of screenlife was proposed by Anton not only because of the impossibility of finding enough funds for a classic feature film during the war. But also because this war is happening on laptops, on phones, and on all social media. It is being broadcast every minute. Screenlife is our new reality and our only opportunity to find out if a person you care about is alive or if they were killed by rockets, or if their car was shot… “Stay online” is not only a call to “stay connected” but also a call to “stay alive.”
