Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz
(Ukraine/Germany, 2022, 66 min., Ukrainian and Russian with English subtitles)
Saturday, September 23, 1pm
Shemin Auditorium, Shaffer Art Building
Q&A with Mila Teshaieva
The small Ukrainian towns of Borodianka, Bucha, and Irpin near the capital of Kyiv were occupied by the Russian army for several weeks. Tanks and snipers targeted gardens between houses. After a month of intense fighting, the Russian army withdrew. In the completely destroyed town of Bucha, the streets were strewn with the corpses of dozens of killed civilians. How do people live there now, in the light of such atrocities? How are the survivors coping? When Spring Came to Bucha gives them 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. This film tells stories about life after the suspected war crimes were committed in Bucha and the surrounding area. Stories about destroyed lives – about atrocities and abysses, but also stories about humanity and hope – as the war in Ukraine continues to rage.