State of Affairs

When Spring Came To Bucha

Mila Teshaieva, Marcus Lenz
Screening time  
29.03. / Wednesday, 19:00 - 21:00 Theatre 4  
30.03. / Thursday, 22:00 - 00:00 Theatre 3  

Russians bombarded Bucha, Borodyanka, Irpin and other cities in the region following their invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. By the time they retreated a month later, the damage was massive. Filmmakers Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz went in immediately, in time to film local people emerging from their shelters. Over the course of many weeks, they follow various residents as they pick themselves up from the smoldering ruins. The dead are identified, debris is cleared, and prosecutors start talking about a war tribunal. At first, all is panic, despair and sadness, but as the first blossoms of spring start appearing, these Ukrainians also reveal their resilience. Human spirit overcomes war and death.

Mila_teshaieva

Mila Teshaieva

Mila Teshaieva is a Ukrainian artist, photographer, and filmmaker. Her work is focused on the topics of national memories and collective identities on the territories of the former Eastern block. The retrospective of her work Imagined Communities was shown at the MIT Museum in Boston in 2018. From the very first days of the full-scale invasion of Russia to Ukraine Mila Teshaieva has been in Kyiv and the Kyiv region, photographing, filming, and writing on what she describes as “a defining moment of European history”.

Marcus_lenz

Marcus Lenz

Marcus Lenz is a German director, screenwriter and cinematographer based in Berlin. He graduated from the Deutsche Film-und Fernsehakademie Berlin (DFFB). His feature film Rival (2020) premiered at Busan IFF and won the Best Director award at Tokyo IFF, Best Global Film at Pristina IFF, among many other awards, also being shown worldwide at more than 50 festivals. In 2016 he founded a production company Wildfilms, and directed multiple mid-length documentaries for German television channels WDR and Arte.

General sponsor

Germany, Ukraine
2022, 67'

Directed by:
Mila Teshaieva, Marcus Lenz

Cinematography:
Marcus Lenz, Mila Teshaieva

Edited by:
Yevgenia Danilenko, Julia Wiedwald

Music:
DakhaBrakha, Ganna Gryniva

Producer:
Marcus Lenz

Produced by:
Wildfilms, WDR

Festivals & Awards:

IDFA (2022), CPH:DOX (2023), Doc Point Helsinki (2023), Göteborg FF (2023), FipaDoc (2023), Thessaloniki IFF (2023), HRWFF London (2023), HRWFF Oslo (2023), Riga Doc (2023), Pordenone DocFest (2023)