Mila Teshaieva and Marcus Lenz: Shards of Light

Take a look at the photo/still from the film from Bucha, the city that experienced, what has been called a massacre, where Russian crimes against humanity took place in February 2022. Documented it is by several sources. Including the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Maxim and Anya, on the photo, are a couple of the protagonists in the film that Teshaieva and Lenz have followed during the three years after the massacre. We see them being married, he in his soldier’s uniform, saluted by soldiers and civilians. On the photo they talk about what clothes he should bring along to the front. Through the film we meet Anya alone, she does not get contact with her husband, she talks with other women about the wounds they have after 2022, the waiting.

They are accompanied by other civilians, like Liudmyla, whose husband was shot at close range and whose house was bombed – and is being rebuild but it takes time. We see, an emotional scene like many in this well made film, her cleaning window frames in the re-built house that is still a skeleton. Liudmyla talks to a lawyer, who is there to identify the killer of her husband. Why are we treating them so civilized, she says, they should go through what we have, torture etc. Referring to the Ukrainians collecting material for raising court cases against the Russians…

And there is Taras who stayed in Bucha, while his family is safe in France. He is preparing the house for them to be welcomed home… if they come back, it looks great. The kids speak more French now than Ukrainian, he says, and it is hard for him – and for us viewers – to witness him saying Happy Birthday on “Face Time” to one of the daughters. 7 years birthday.

And Olga who has been accused of being a traitor during the Russian occupation, giving information to the Russians. In the film we see her being tested in a lie detector situation. Did you help the Russians, she is asked. No, she says.

In an interview – from the press material – with the director Teshaieva, she talks about Olga and Maxim and Anya:

“For each of the protagonists, it’s their own path. Some, for instance, devoted themselves to the fight
for justice. That became the meaning of their lives for years, unfortunately, without results. Take Olga: during Bucha’s liberation, she was saving people – she truly was a hero. But
then, for three years, she had to defend herself against accusations of something she
hadn’t done – to prove she wasn’t a collaborator…

And that was nearly impossible, because she had been accused “just in case.” Each of our protagonists embarked on a new, unknown, painful journey. And it was important for me to be with them along that road.

For example, Maksym and Anya. In April 2022, when they got married, they were euphoric. He had defended Irpin, and they believed in a quick victory. But when he came back from the frontline in 2024, he was really broken. Reality had changed. And no one was prepared for that. This film is important to me, particularly because through it, I can speak about this new reality: the reality of war, and their attempt to navigate in this uncertain reality. Through them, through their fates…”.

Not to forget the young people in the film doing a theatre play about… the war. Today. After Bucha was taken by the Russians, and liberated by the Ukrainians, leaving traumas and nightmares behind. Laughter and pain for the young ones, one of them in online contact with the Russian, who killed his father. Amazing scene.

The filmmakers built up a close relationship to the protagonists, you can see and sense that. Scenes and sequences are strong and full of respect. When Liudmyla looks for her husband’s name on the memorial of the massacre, the camera stays at a distance. Thank you.

Germany, Ukraine, 2025, 83 mins.