Ukrainian drama Stay Online by Eva Strelnikova to be released internationally

The international sales department of K5 Media Group has acquired the rights to international distribution, except for North America, of the 2023 film Stay Online, which was shot in Ukraine. This was reported by Variety, according to UNN.

Details

It is noted that the Ukrainian film Stay Online by Eva Strelnikova will be released internationally. The rights to show the film abroad were bought by K5 International as part of the European Film Market.

The film, which debuted last year at the Fantasia Film Festival in Montreal, was recently sold to Dark Star Pictures for distribution in North America in a deal brokered by XYZ Films. The US release is scheduled for the end of the second quarter of 2024.

The film will be released in Ukraine on March 28.

For reference

Set in the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the film follows a young woman, Katya (Liza Zaitseva), who is working as a volunteer in Kyiv and receives one of the thousands of laptops donated by ordinary Ukrainians to support the military. She is asked to install a confidential military program and deliver the laptop to her brother, who is serving on the front line.

But she receives a mysterious video call from a young man looking for his father, the previous owner of the laptop, who went missing during the Russian army's brutal massacre of civilians in Bucha. She agrees to help find his missing parents, a decision that will ultimately force her to risk the lives of her loved ones.

Eva Strelnikova's feature-length directorial debut, Stay Online, was written by Strelnikova and Anton Skrypets.

Addendum

The Ukrainian drama film was created in the screenplay format. Eva Strelnikova noted that the format was proposed by Anton Skrypets, the screenwriter, "not only because it was impossible to find enough money for a classic script during the war, but also because this war is taking place on laptops, phones and all social networks.

Recall

The film Stepne by Ukrainian director Maryna Vroda won the main prize at the 35th Central and Eastern European Film Festival, which took place on January 19-27, 2024 in Trieste, Italy.