ANTONIVKA

SYNOPSIS

Aurora and Darko are young and in love. They survived the war and are starting their life together. He’s a musician, and she is doing a veterinary internship. They move into a room at the house of Aurora’s grandfather. Grandpa Anton is blind and needs care. He is 88 years old, and he’s been through the occupation of his village and lived to the victory of Ukraine. It’s easy to look after him – he eats twice a day and mostly bread. Still, Aurora is afraid that he is going to pass away soon. Gradually, death becomes the central theme of their lives and sets the record straight.

CONTACT

AMOUNT OF THE SUPPORT FOR DEVELOPMENT: 43 800 €

Date of the decision : December 11th 2023

AMOUNT OF THE SUPPORT FOR PRODUCTION: 180 000 €

Date of the decision : November 19th 2025

THE DIRECTOR

Kateryna Gornostai was born in Lutsk in 1989. She studied biology and later journalism at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy. In 2012–2013, Kateryna studied documentary filmmaking at Marina Razbezhkina and Mikhail Ugarov’s School of Documentary Films and Theatre. Afterward, she came back home to Kyiv and started a career as a documentary film director. In 2013, her graduation film, “Between Us,” took part in the national competition at the “Molodist” film festival. Later, Kateryna began to work with feature films and hybrid forms. “Stop-Zemlia” is the director’s full-length feature debut, which was presented in the Generation 14+ competition of the Berlinale International Film Festival and won the main “Crystal Bear” award from the Youth Jury in 2021. She also teaches film directing to the students of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.