A woman volunteering in the fight against the Russian invasion of Ukraine helps a boy to locate his missing parents in Stay Online. Katya (Liza Zaitseva) is a volunteer from Kyiv assisting her brother Vitya (Oleksandr Rudynskyi) with installing GPS software on a laptop that once belonged to a man named Andriy Fetsenko (Roman Liakh). After receiving a video call from Andriy's superhero-loving son Sava, Katya decides to enlist the help of her boyfriend Ryan (Anton Skrypets) to find out what happened to Sava's parents.
Stay Online Synopsis
Stay Online is a ScreenLife film co-written and directed by Eva Strelnikova and is the film Ukrainian feature film to be produced during the Russian invasion. As the protagonist Katya hides in her home in Kyiv, she watches updates on the war via a laptop that was donated to the resistance. However, when Katya discovers that the laptop's former owner Andriy has a young son who was separated from his parents during an evacuation, she puts it on herself to find out where Sava's parents are, even if it means sending her brother Vitya and boyfriend Ryan past enemy lines.
My Thoughts on Stay Online
Utilizing the ScreenLife style previously utilized in films such as Searching, Profile and #Blue_Whale, Stay Online is a film that uses its narrative to illustrate the uncertainty and chaos of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In one of the most tense sequences of the film, Katya uses a GPS app to guide her brother Vitya through enemy territory. Stay Online is definitely a very timely film worth seeking out.
Trailer for Stay Online – Fantasia 2023
