Want to get a head start on your Oscar predictions? 'They Told Me I Wasn't A Human Being': Gay Men Speak Of Brutal Treatment In Chechnya, Activists Say 40 Detained And 2 Dead In Gay Purge In Chechnya. And while there initially isn't much background on the two fugitive subjects the 30-year-old "Grisha" and the 21-year-old Muslim lesbian "Anya" you quickly understand why. These are ghastly images, and I'm not convinced the film needed all of them to convey the full horror of what's going on. Chechnya, there are no homosexuals. When he went to visit a guy he met online, policemen hiding in the bathroom arrested and detained him. I didnt want to create a reel of horrors, I wanted to underscore what had happened to the people who were in the film, France said. And I was outraged that they were being forced to do this all on their own, and that the world wasnt coming to pay attention to and put pressure against the Chechen government.". "People in Chechnya who are suspected of being lesbian, gay or bisexual, are facing a 'new wave of persecution' following a spate of killings involving torture, and other rights abuses," a group. Welcome to Chechnya airs June 30 at 7 p.m. If anything, the activists tell us, the women need more help escaping. (Pavel Golovkin | AP file photo) Chechen regional leader Ramzan Kadyrov smiles prior to President Vladimir Putin's annual state of the nation address in the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, on Dec. 1, 2016. They were horrible stories and theres no doubt that they were real, France, an Oscar-nominated activist filmmaker, said. Welcome to Chechnya is a terrifying documentary about the gay purges happening in Chechnya, Russia. The movie opens on a dark street in the southern Russian republic of Chechnya, where a man smokes a cigarette and arranges secret meetings and transports by phone. Welcome To Chechnya. This melding of techniques resulted in an illusion that received high marks from a Dartmouth study group researching the so-called uncanny valley, a metric of empathy for nonhuman faces. He wants you to see them. Together with various support initiatives, they had come to oversee a network that had arisen almost spontaneously back in 2017 to respond to what was happening in Chechnya. Similarly harrowing, but also more hopeful, is the experience of a 30-year-old Russian businessman, here called "Grisha," who was detained and beaten for 12 days during a trip to Chechnya. We dont talk about this much, but were still in therapy about it. Summary: Searing urgency is a guiding force as Welcome to Chechnya shadows a group of activists who risk unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ+ pogrom raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. 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. The story in Chechnya is unfortunately still ongoing. It's a call for justice for the tortured and murdered in Chechnya, and a stark reminder of the realities many. Welcome to Chechnya (2020) Plot Showing all 3 items Jump to: Summaries (2) Synopsis (1) Summaries A group of activists risk their lives fighting for LGBTQ+ rights in Chechnya. You can just put something like a book on top of the GoPro and it becomes invisible. She adds, You can always tell them you didnt understand.. She has never been at home alone before but must wait indoors, as the activists try to arrange for any country to take her in. Welcome to Chechnya, directed by David France and produced by Alice Henty, David France, Askold Kurov, and Joy A. Tomchin, 2020, 107 minutes. Since 2017, Chechnya's tyrannical leader, Ramzan Kadyrov, has waged a depraved operation to "cleanse the blood" of LGBTQ Chechens, overseeing a government-directed campaign to detain, torture and execute them. This fear is not abstract. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. It was by far the most emotional journey Ive ever been on, said France in an interview with The Salt Lake Tribune. It was my passport they grabbed, and my passport they argued over, says France, who managed to capture this nail-biting episode with an iPhone clutched between his knees. By Neetha K Published on : 18:00 PST, Jun 30, 2020 . When he made his first documentary, 2012's How to Survive a Plague, about the early AIDS activists in America, the director didn't hesitate to describe his protagonists there as heroes, for the way that they stood up for what they believed in, against adversity: it's an accolade that seems no less appropriate here. I wanted you to feel what he felt at that moment, France said. The fate of his call for investigation would be depressingly familiar. [5], One of the refugees, Maxim Lapunov, is publicly identified in the film, as he sought, and failed, to get legal redress from Russian authorities.[6]. At no time were lights or external sound gear used on the film, with two exceptions. They were sent over WhatsApp groups up the chain of command, so that Ramzan Kadyrov would know that his orders are being carried out., And when you saw the footage, I realized that I wanted to take that away from them, and turn their trophies into evidence, he continued. Since 2016, Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov has led a pogrom against the . The face moves exactly the same way. Anyone can read what you share. The face of a volunteer, Miguel Grisanti, is used to cloak the real subject in Welcome to Chechnya.. According to Representative Billy Long, abortions, not guns, are the problem. The found footage of attacks on members of the Chechen LGBTQ community illustrates the level of terror victims experienced and what might happen to them if they got caught. A gripping account of ACT UP and TAGs extraordinary lifesaving efforts during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, the film chronicled a community left to fend for itself in the face of mass medical negligence and societal indifference. (Photo courtesy of Igor Myakotin/Welcome to Chechnya) David France at the Sundance Film Festival. 'Country Queers' shares the 'joy' and 'pain' of rural LGBTQ life, NYC's Queer Liberation March draws thousands, clashes with NYPD, Two New Yorkers vie to be first gay Black men in Congress. Until now, its use has largely been limited to anonymous online mischief of various degrees of severity, like inserting Nicolas Cages grin into movies Cage never acted in. Because they are still in safe houses, and they are still pursuing this suitTheres no telling how long that battles going to last, but theyre in it for the long run., Lapunov was able to feel some of that support when he traveled to the Sundance Film Festival earlier this year for the docs premiere. The darkness was painfully visible throughout Welcome to Chechnya, but France somehow managed to close the film in light a beam, however tentative and hesitant, that nevertheless shone through with affirmation. But I found it remarkably effective in the way it lets these young men and women tell their stories and express a level of emotion that would have been lost if they had been filmed with blurred faces or in heavy shadows. It was very cumbersome, but necessary to keep my end of the promise, France said. Then come the faces themselves, slightly soft, as they were in Martin Scorseses de-aged The Irishman. Smoking cigarettes, strategizing, looking nervous. Another agonising airport moment came when Grisha flew to lasting safety abroad, accompanied not only by his boyfriend but by his family as well: the threats of the Chechen power structures extended so far in Russia that all concerned were in peril, and so had to be moved. welcome to chechnya what happened to anya. And it restores to them their humanity in a way that would not have been possible under other circumstances., Still, why should we trust a documentary that uses deepfakes? (The films cinematographer, Askold Kurov, stepped aside for this mission since its cover story required a female camera operator.). It was a gay purge. Her uncles threatening to out her unless she has sex with him, and given the high-profile family connections Isteev and Baranova have even less time and resources than usual to sneak her out of the country. He did say they have been concerned about safety at screenings, and that they took special safety precautions at Sundance to protect the people who appear in the film from any undue danger.. The step raises familiar questions about nonfiction movies. Plans start at $9.99/month. France doesnt see it as opening a new can of worms so much as the same old one. It allows us to feel that whammy of: This guy was beaten up and tortured and electrocuted and I am seeing him him being his face bare his soul.. For securitys sake, Ivanova needed to use a burner phone rather than her own. All Rights Reserved. Instead, we see David and a team of associates covertly enter Grozny with a carefully crafted plan to extract desperate subjects - in this case, "Anya", the twenty-one year old daughter of a local government official who is being blackmailed by her uncle, threatening to expose her sexuality if she doesn't allow him to rape her. I love her. Oscar; Crticas; . They are heartbreaking. And as in Frances first film, the people most in desperate need of help have once again been abandoned to their own devices. I was so involved in the technical work for the months leading up to Sundance that I hadnt stepped back to see the film. Saudi jihadist Ibn al-Khattab staged a devastating ambush of a Russian convoy at Shatoy on April 16 that prompted the . "Welcome to Chechnya" is a vital and urgent portrait of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis, and the world needs to hear about it. Every step of the way, things were air-gapped to defend against hacks. Its got a beautiful lens on it, says the director, but it looks like a toy. So when I met him, he was an open, generous figure who allowed me to share his journey with him in the most profound way., In order to hide the identities of the residents in the safe house, France used technology to replace their faces with those of 22 LGBTQ activists in New York City. Eventually he opted for advanced facial replacement techniques using artificial intelligence and novel visual effects technology so the viewer could see real faces displaying real emotions while still protecting the identities of the speakers. 21 . Welcome to Chechnya is a 2020 documentary film by American reporter, author and documentarian David France. Immediately, as theyre being slapped awake and their arm bandaged, we hear a reprimand: Dont fucking create problems for us. And: There are other people here besides you.. Welcome to Chechnya airs on HBO Tuesday, June 30, at 10 p.m. Sean Burns Twitter Film CriticSean Burns is a film critic for The ARTery. Chechnya, also spelled Chechnia or Chechenia, republic in southwestern Russia, situated on the northern flank of the Greater Caucasus range. "Welcome to Chechnya" es un urgente documental que destaca a valientes activistas rescatando a personas gay del exterminio en Chechenia. Among those in the film are David Isteev, who leads the rescue missions through the Russian LGBT Network and Olga Baranova, director of the Moscow Community Center for LGBT+ Initiatives. And in 70 countries across the globe where its still illegal to be gay. Welcome to Chechnya opened with footage of activist David Isteev (pictured below) waiting anxiously on his phone, listening to 21-year-old Anya the names of all except the activists were changed, their faces and voices disguised from the Chechen capital Grozny, tell how she was being blackmailed by a family member threatening to reveal her sexuality. Their operation, run from a discreet location that becomes a haven for escapees-in-wait, receives about 25 new refugees a month. Frances movie is very much an on-the-ground account of these happenings. The operation begins in a fast-food restaurant. There's no time for sweeping shots of foreign. And in fact, the Russian LGBTQ movement was left all alone to try and fashion some sort of response to what was going on there. 197 posts. Bogdan Left, Grisha Right in "Welcome to Chechnya". Shes just fearless, says France. Data was immediately moved off-camera cards and loaded in triplicate onto encrypted drives; one was smuggled out of the country and two remained hidden in Russia. Being there made me feel like Id been sent back to the French Resistance. Which meant, in the cases we saw here, abroad, in which they were assisted by a range of international gay organisations, as well as those embassies in Moscow, Canada clearly prominent among them, that proved receptive. Afterwards, the activists reunite at a meeting spot, where the women change clothes and Anyas phone is destroyed. And yet, here is proof., France spent about 18 months filming in Moscow and Chechnya. After some chitchat, the women leave by taxi for the airport. Even Facebook, not known for its strict policing of content, pledged to ban deepfakes in January. This visual strategy has a curious effect: you look at people without really being able to see them. Although some didnt. Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of the autonomous region of Russia, enacted a campaign in 2017 to find, imprison, torture and sometimes kill LGBTQ Chechens. And then theres Maxim Lapunov, who came to Moscow after being released from prison, where he was tortured for several weeks in 2017. Posted on 21 de fevereiro de 2022 by . HBO. The most nerve-wracking sequence in David Frances Welcome to Chechnya is, without doubt, the rescue of Anya. Agents warned Ivanova she couldnt film. Maybe shocking. Those are the stories that have really fascinated me the way that their activists handle these challenges and the specter of death. Activist David Isteev, left, and a cohort organize an escape in a scene from 'Welcome to Chechnya.'. What was a very expensive proposition has become even more expensive. and Anya, a young queer woman from Grozny, who wants to flee her powerful Chechen family. Documentary Competition Grand Jury Prize, David Isteev, Olga Baranova, Maxim Lapunov, Panorama Publikumspreis (audience award) for Best Documentary, Ryan Laney, Eugen Brunig, Maxwell Anderson, Johnny Han and Piers Dennis, David France, Alice Henty, Askold Kurov and Joy A Tomchin, Best Broadcast Network or Cable Docuseries, Documentary Television Movie, or Non-Fiction Series, Alice Henty, David France, Joy A. Tomchin, Askold Kurov and Igor Myakotin, The Most Valuable Documentary of the Year, This page was last edited on 9 January 2023, at 01:52. . Some thought it was too much of a risk. Quite popular in Russia, GoPro is a camera everybody can have, with no questions asked, Ivanova says. These are the images being broadcast by Russian propaganda channels, leveraging the very presence of Chechen. 'Welcome to Chechnya' Review: A look at state-sanctioned torture, rape and murder of homosexuals in Russia. Moved by the plight of queer people trying to escape government-sanctioned persecution of the Russian state's LGBTQ community, he embedded himself in the rescue efforts to smuggle out refugees to safer corners of the . (The Get Out director Jordan Peele tried to raise awareness with an eerie deepfake of Barack Obama.) But things got much worse in early 2017, when the leader of the republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, a strongman with close ties to Russian President Vladimir Putin, began a violent purge of anyone suspected of being gay or transgender. So I was following the footsteps of my heroes. His companions were two guides hed hired. Welcome to Chechnya follows the stories of some of the gay men and women attempting to move to safety. They were keepsakes from these horrible events, and they were also deliverables. 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