From acclaimed journalist and Oscar(R)-nominated director David France (How to Survive a Plague) comes this searing documentary about a group of brave activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ campaign in the Russian republic of Chechnya--which has led to the torture and disappearance of untold numbers of people. A group of activists risk their lives fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Chechnya. “Welcome to Chechnya” documents a mass murder in modern times Courtesy of HBO David France’s gut-wrenching documentary on the state-sanctioned purge of GLBT people in Chechnya is an excellent expose of the atrocities and portrait of the heroes in Russia. A still from the documentary "Welcome to Chechnya." Welcome to Chechnya will have its world premiere in the U.S. Welcome to Chechnya airs June 30 at 7 p.m. I felt angry. With unfettered access and a commitment to protecting anonymity, this documentary exposes Chehnya’s underreported atrocities while highlighting a group of people who are confronting brutality head-on. With unfettered access and a commitment to protecting anonymity, this documentary exposes Chehnya’s underreported atrocities while highlighting a group of people who are confronting brutality head-on. © 2020 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. "Homophobia, racism, and xenophobia are still common occurrences — and not only in Russia. HBO has announced its upcoming documentary “Welcome to Chechnya” will debut on June 30 at 10 p.m. “ Welcome to Chechnya: Inside the Russian Republic’s Deadly War on Gays, ” which premiered at the Sundance Festival in January and airs on HBO next week, is … Most filmmakers would kick off an investigative look at LGBTQ rights in the former Soviet Union with this clip; David France’s investigative documentary Welcome to … Alice Henty, Joy … Topics: Chechnya , documentary , Entertainment , HBO , LGBTQ , movie review All products featured … “Welcome to Chechnya” premieres on HBO on June 30. © 2020 Home Box Office, Inc. All Rights Reserved. On the last day of Pride month, to celebrate the premiere of the HBO Documentary, Welcome To Chechnya, Out Leadership hosted a discussion about the state of LGBTQ+ human rights in Chechnya. After a three year period of dormancy, the accusations have resurfaced in a new feature-length documentary by HBO Films entitled Welcome to Chechnya. Welcome to Chechnya… Oscar-nominated director David France did not waste any time in deciding to confront this issue head-on with the documentary Welcome to Chechnya, which debuts June 30 on HBO. From Academy Award-nominated director David France (How to Survive a Plague, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson) comes Welcome to Chechnya, a powerful and eye-opening documentary about a group of activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ persecution in the repressive and closed Russian republic of Chechnya. HBO Welcome to Chechnya documentary on HBO The campaign against LGBTQ+ citizens is a massive problem in the Russian republic of Chechnya, a … If you’re a current HBO subscriber, you might already have access to HBO Max — all of HBO plus even more blockbuster movies, must-see series, and new Max Originals. Welcome to Chechnya From Academy Award-nominated director David France ( How to Survive a Plague, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson ) comes Welcome to Chechnya , a powerful and eye-opening documentary about a group of activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ persecution in the repressive and closed Russian republic of Chechnya. From Academy Award-nominated director David France (How to Survive a Plague, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson) comes (Courtesy HBO) Director David France’s 2012 “How to Survive a Plague” was to my mind one of the decade’s finest documentaries. Sign Up: Stay on top of the latest breaking film and TV news! Welcome to Chechnya, a documentary by David France premiering June 30 on HBO, follows these refugees and the activists going to extraordinary lengths to help them escape. Welcome to Chechnya is a Public Square Films production, directed by David France and produced by Alice Henty, Joy A. Tomchin, Askold Kurov, and David France. Learn more about the organizations that provide support, services, shelter, and more for LGBTQ+ people in Russia and around the world. But there is a part of Russia where it is especially frightening. Welcome to Chechnya is a grimly ironic title for a documentary that plays like a chilling undercover thriller. I felt betrayed. An illuminating and urgent call to action, Welcome to Chechnya portrays the horrors of the mass persecution of the LGBTQ+ community in the Chechen Republic with tenacity and tenderness. As the violence around Chechnya's anti-LGBTQ+ purge continues, brave activists and organizations are fighting daily to create a safer world for queer Chechens. ", "Trust yourself, choose yourself, love yourself, be yourself.". HBO will mark LGBTQ Pride Month by releasing a new documentary that sheds insight into the alleged abuse and persecution of queer people in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Welcome to Chechnya is a Public Square Films production, directed by David France and produced by Alice Henty, Joy A. Tomchin, Askold Kurov and David France. With Olga Baranova, David Isteev, Maxim Lapunov. From Academy Award-nominated director David France (How to Survive a Plague, The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson) comes Welcome to Chechnya, a powerful and eye-opening documentary about a group of activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ persecution in the repressive and closed Russian republic of Chechnya. , They become more open-minded, they start to think that they have a right for this, a right for that... And I think: 'Why should I be scared?' The film follows the dangerous work of activists in … Courtesy of HBO HBO’s ‘Welcome to Chechnya’ Is Latest Anti-Russian Cold War Propaganda Film Review: The selective outrage in response to the alleged purges, like all things Russia-related, is highly politicized. The camerawork is rough and ragged; the … For a look at this vital documentary, check out the trailer below. We can change that. The film follows these LGBTQ activists as they work undercover to rescue victims and provide them with safe houses and visa assistance to escape persecution. Directed by David France. Documentary Competition section at Sundance, after which it will debut in June on HBO. Welcome To Chechnya, directed by David France, documents one of the worst, and least widely-known, humanitarian crises of the last 15 years: The systematic purging of … HBO’s Welcome to Chechnya is Latest Anti-Russian Cold War Propaganda by Max Parry / August 26th, 2020 In 2017, explosive allegations first emerged that the authorities of the Chechen Republic were reportedly interning gay men in concentration camps. This is something that should not be in a healthy society. What’s going on in Chechnya is a campaign to root out and murder anybody they think is LGBTQ.” And while that’s the case, the fight must go on. "Every single time they would beat me, spit on me or humiliate me, trying to destroy me as an 'enemy of the state,' I felt my queer spirit fading away. ET on HBO. I felt hopeless. The terrorist who beheaded a French school teacher near Paris for showing cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed to his class has been given a hero's funeral in his native Chechnya… The film centres on the anti-gay purges in Chechnya of the late 2010s, interviewing various LGBT Chechnyan refugees about their experiences. Stream Welcome to Chechnya (HBO) on HBO Max. I felt completely detached from the country that 'gave' me a birth but was happy to bury me alive. Time was working against me. It’s there that he first met the men and women who are featured in his new documentary “ Welcome to Chechnya,” which premieres Tuesday on HBO. Above all this, I had lost hope; it would 'get better in time' they say, but I did not have that strange and ephemeral substance — 'time.' And the only achievement for me is when I meet them two years later and realize that they are totally different people now. ", "I work a lot with the survivors and refugees. The film follows these LGBTQ+ activists as they work undercover to rescue victims and provide them with safe houses and visa assistance to escape persecution. If we gave someone a chance to live a totally different life and they use that chance — this makes me very happy. Welcome to Chechnya director David France and LGBTQ+ advocate Roxane Gay discuss how the documentary came to be and the importance of raising awareness around the LGBTQ+ cleansing campaign in Chechnya. We hope sharing these stories shines a spotlight on Chechnya and rallies the community to take action. Western viewers would have no idea that of the 74 countries worldwide where homosexuality is still criminalized, Russia isn’t among them. The film, which documents the efforts to … The discussion was moderated by Director for Global Equality Initiatives, Fabrice Houdart, featuring panelists Maria Sj ö din, the Deputy Executive Director of OutRight Action International, and … 'Welcome to Chechnya' documents horrifying persecution of LGBTQ Chechens David France's HBO film shines light on the brutal campaign by officials in … Welcome to Chechnya, HBO at 10: A look at the work of a group of activists in Chechnya risking their lives to combat the country’s deadly anti-LGBTQ torture campaign. The HBO Max documentary “Welcome to Chechnya” won a big award recently from DOC NYC, the largest documentary festival in the United States. "I hope to give courage to others by sharing my personal experiences.”. Rainbow Railroad played a key role in the events depicted in Welcome To Chechnya: Working on the ground directly in partnership with the Russian LGBT Network, Rainbow Railroad helped many victims of the 2017 purge escape to Canada and other safer countries — and continues to do so to this day. ", “I do this work because fate gave me a second chance, and I believe others deserve second chances too," Harlem Khadzhiev writes. Welcome to Chechnya is a 2020 American documentary film, directed by David France. In the North Caucasus, 100 percent of queer women experience psychological and physical violence in their families and 29 percent experience sexual violence in their families. hbo But “Welcome to Chechnya” could represent the introduction of a new kind of “soft mask,” one that hides a subject’s identity while still allowing for a complex emotional attachment. Shot between mid-2017 and early last year, the film has received widespread acclaim among Western media and film critics. 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