When Spring Came to Bucha

Opened Wednesday, June 7, 2023

Discussion to follow screening with dir. Mila Teshaieva and Rachel Denber, Deputy Director, Europe & Central Asia Division, Human Rights Watch.

In early 2022, the Ukrainian city of Bucha near the capital, Kyiv, was occupied by the Russian army for several weeks. After a month of intense fighting, the Russian army withdrew, leaving the city destroyed in its wake. With beautiful cinematography, renowned photographer Mila Teshaieva captures stories of the residents as they clean their streets of debris and rebuild their shattered homes. Yuri, municipal services manager, struggles to keep people supplied with clean drinking water. Olenka is the only pupil in her classroom after two of her classmates are killed, the rest having left the country. Yet amid the suffering, a young couple gets married, and life must go on. This heart-rending yet empowering documentary tells stories of loss, hope, and resistance, as the spring flowers of Bucha begin to bloom.

Screening as part of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival 2023.

The panel following the screening will be live-captioned.
Content Advisory: This film contains images and audio from a war zone, including brief and partial images of covered bodies, and mass funerals. 

• Country Ukraine
• Language Russian with English Subtitles
• Running Time 64 minutes
• Distributor Human Rights Watch FF
• Director Mila Teshaieva, Marcus Lenz
• Accessibility Descriptive Audio, Open Captioning

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.