WHEN SPRING CAME TO BUCHA

A film by Mila Teshaieva, Marcus Lenz
2023, 65 minutes

No. 428
Documentary

Description

In early 2022, the Ukrainian towns of Borodianka, Bucha, and Irpin, near the capital of Kyiv, were occupied by the Russian army. After a month of intense fighting - in houses, schools, stores - the Russian army finally withdrew. But the towns were completely destroyed. In Bucha, the streets were strewn with the corpses of dozens of killed civilians. How do people live there now, in light of such atrocities? How are the survivors coping?

This powerful documentary gives the survivors the opportunity to tell their stories: Yuri, municipal services manager, struggles to keep people supplied with clean drinking water. Liudmyla searches for her husband's body. She had buried him in a makeshift grave in the garden, but somebody has dug up the body, probably to bury him elsewhere. Olenka is the only pupil in the classroom of School No. 1; two of her classmates were killed, the rest have left the country. In the midst of all the suffering, a young couple get married – life goes on.

When Spring Came to Bucha tells stories about life after the battles and war crimes. Stories about destroyed lives – about atrocities, but also about humanity and hope – as the war in Ukraine continues to rage on.