The Bucha Blackboard

The Bucha Blackboard

Many school playgrounds and youth sports stadiums in Ukraine have been destroyed.

Our team documented this destruction first-hand during the making of our film War Games, which recently premiered at Tribeca Film Festival and focused on youth in Central Ukraine.

We are now raising $20,000 to rebuild these spaces for children specifically in the towns of Bucha and Irpin.

And we are doing it all with a little help from a school blackboard...

A student from Bucha, named Ivan (Іван), wrote his story of the invasion on a blackboard, which once hung in his school.

Now an object of historical significance, The Bucha Blackboard was donated by Ivan's primary school, which Russian troops commandeered while carrying out door-to-door executions and shelling nearby Irpin.

"Hello. My name is Ivan. I am 12 years old. I live in Bucha, Ukraine. I have four dogs and a chinchilla named Masha. I love football. This board is one of the few things that survived in my school. Russian invaders destroyed my city. They tortured and killed people. I was scared because there were explosions all the time, so my family and I had to hide in the basement. Thousands of Ukrainian schools are destroyed. I want to see my classmates. I want to go to school. I am tired of being with only Masha. Ivan”

'Destroyed school yards'

Ukrainian children are experiencing a widespread mental health crisis, due to the war. The fight to stay mentally afloat in isolation, and while hiding from Russian troops, is a growing problem for Ukrainian teens and adolescents alike.

Even before the invasion by Russia, playgrounds and youth sports stadiums were among the few spaces where children could play and interact, due to school closures during the pandemic.

But many of those are now gone as well, along with school buildings themselves. In their place, missile and mortar blasts.

A still from the film War Games of an artillery explosion on a soccer field in Irpin

Today, instead of teaching children poetry or algebra, The Bucha Blackboard serves the purpose of informing people worldwide about the ongoing invasion and driving attention to collect funds for the restoration of school grounds, beginning with those in Bucha and Irpin.

‘Ivan in hiding’

The Bucha Blackboard is one of the few objects to have survived the Russian military occupation of Bucha.

The Russians were eventually forced out, leaving a trail of bodies across the streets and gardens of this devastated community. Many more lay in a mass grave. Torture and rape were routinely used.

Ivan wrote his story of hiding from Russian troops on the board

Ivan and his family, however, were never detected. The 12-year-old survived with eight other family members by hiding in a damp basement, approximately 1.5 by 3.5 meters in diameter. Their only reprieve was at night, when they would quietly slip upstairs to use the bathroom and feed their pets, one of which was a chinchilla, named Masha.

Designer and filmmaker Matt Danzico and his crew spent weeks interviewing Ivan and his family for their documentary film.

Based upon those interviews, and along with the help of Ivan’s mother and local producer Oleksiy Oliyar, Ivan drafted his message on the board. With the permission of Ivan’s principal, the blackboard—which made it through bombardments with only minor shrapnel damage—continues on as an educational tool.

Along with eight others, Ivan hid in a basement that was 1.5m (5ft) by 3.5m (10ft) in length

In partnership with Fundacja Bezpieczna (Safe Foundation), our team is raising money to repair the very playgrounds and stadiums in Bucha and Irpin that were documented in War Games. If we continue raising funds past our goal, we will continue to distribute this money to other schools in need, focusing next on schools in East Ukraine.

An incredible thank you to our very special team of producers and journalists, all of whom worked diligently to help transport the board around and ultimately out of Ukraine. That team includes Oleksiy Oliyar, Jack Losh, Oleg Sologub, Lucía Román Canivell, and Azhnjuk Jurij.

The board has just ended its installation at Westminster City Hall in London. If you are interested in displaying the board as an educational tool, reach out: [email redacted]