Documentary Chronicles Efforts of Modern Day “Underground Railroad” Saving LGBT+ Citizens From Genocidal Purge
There’s a moment in Welcome to Chechnya, the new documentary film from writer/director David France, when the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, proclaims to an American journalist that there are no gays or lesbians in Chechnya. He says it proudly with a self-satisfied grin. It’s a homicidal little smile that says, “At least, we don’t have any who would admit it because they would be killed.”
Kadyrov is a hard-line supporter of Vladimir Putin, and that undying loyalty gives him one very important thing: total autonomy when it comes to governing the internal policies of the Chechen Republic. His military police is empowered to snatch LGBT+ people off the streets and torture them to learn the identities of similarly-oriented citizens. Think McCarthyism with electric shocks, beatings … and murders.
When people “confess” to their LGBT+ status, they are returned to their families who are expected to remove the “stain” on their reputation by killing their LGBT+ loved one. And the murder will never be investigated. They will simply disappear, and no questions will be asked. The best part about it? The government can’t be blamed for the killings because the government isn’t committing the murders.
Welcome to Chechnya is a boots-on-the-ground journalistic account of this systematic purge of LGBT+ citizens in the Chechen Republic and the efforts of a network of activists who are committed to helping these victims of persecution flee Chechnya to lead a normal life in another country. The film plays like something out of a spy novel. The activist network has a series of safe houses, access to document forgers, operatives in countries outside of Russia, etc. They can scoop you off the street, provide you with a new identity and have you on a plane to a new life in a matter of days. If everything goes according to plan, that is.
The film plunges its audience into the day-to-day operation of this modern day Underground Railroad, and we follow a variety of LGBT+ men and women as they attempt to escape the dangerous confines of the Chechen Republic. The appearances of the network leaders and the “characters” they are assisting have been digitally altered for their safety. Some make it to safety, and some lose their nerve, returning to their families and a tenuous fate.
One of the surprising themes that surfaces during the film is the strong nationalism these LGBT+ men and women feel toward a country that would literally like to see them exterminated. The focal point of the film is two men who have been involved in a clandestine romantic relationship for years. One of them was abducted and brutally tortured by government operatives, but when he was returned to his family, they did not kill him. Instead they conspire to leave the country with him. Despite these horrifying circumstances, both men are saddened to be leaving the country of their birth as if a part of who they are will forever be left behind. Through this “storyline”, Welcome to Chechnya becomes a look at all of the identities that make us who we are, not just sexual identity.
Welcome to Chechnya is astonishing old school investigative reporting. We never hear David France or his assistant Igor Myakotin discuss their personal safety and welfare, but we can only assume that they would have been subject to torture and arrest if they were exposed and apprehended during filming. They could not use traditional camera and sound crews. They used a pair of iPhones and other compact equipment to document their immersion in this world. (During the post-screening Q&A, France stated that he was worried about the quality of the audio being captured by their lo-fi approach, but they were fortunate that the raw audio from their cellphone footage proved to be sufficient.)
Secrecy is the life blood of governmental regimes that sponsor the crimes against humanity like those documented in Welcome to Chechnya. This important piece of work brings a corner of the globe into the light where it can be examined and scrutinized. If not for investigative journalists and documentarians like David France, this kind of evil might otherwise continue to thrive in the shadows. It’s a powerful, necessary piece of film-making.
Welcome to Chechnya has been acquired by HBO Films. It’s precise release date is yet to be determined.
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Documentary Chronicles Efforts of Modern Day “Underground Railroad” Saving LGBT+ Citizens From Genocidal Purge
There’s a moment in Welcome to Chechnya, the new documentary film from writer/director David France, when the head of the Chechen Republic, Ramzan Kadyrov, proclaims to an American journalist that there are no gays or lesbians in Chechnya. He says it proudly with a self-satisfied grin. It’s a homicidal little smile that says, “At least, we don’t have any who would admit it because they would be killed.”
Kadyrov is a hard-line supporter of Vladimir Putin, and that undying loyalty gives him one very important thing: total autonomy when it comes to governing the internal policies of the Chechen Republic. His military police is empowered to snatch LGBT+ people off the streets and torture them to learn the identities of similarly-oriented citizens. Think McCarthyism with electric shocks, beatings … and murders.
When people “confess” to their LGBT+ status, they are returned to their families who are expected to remove the “stain” on their reputation by killing their LGBT+ loved one. And the murder will never be investigated. They will simply disappear, and no questions will be asked. The best part about it? The government can’t be blamed for the killings because the government isn’t committing the murders.
Welcome to Chechnya is a boots-on-the-ground journalistic account of this systematic purge of LGBT+ citizens in the Chechen Republic and the efforts of a network of activists who are committed to helping these victims of persecution flee Chechnya to lead a normal life in another country. The film plays like something out of a spy novel. The activist network has a series of safe houses, access to document forgers, operatives in countries outside of Russia, etc. They can scoop you off the street, provide you with a new identity and have you on a plane to a new life in a matter of days. If everything goes according to plan, that is.
The film plunges its audience into the day-to-day operation of this modern day Underground Railroad, and we follow a variety of LGBT+ men and women as they attempt to escape the dangerous confines of the Chechen Republic. The appearances of the network leaders and the “characters” they are assisting have been digitally altered for their safety. Some make it to safety, and some lose their nerve, returning to their families and a tenuous fate.
One of the surprising themes that surfaces during the film is the strong nationalism these LGBT+ men and women feel toward a country that would literally like to see them exterminated. The focal point of the film is two men who have been involved in a clandestine romantic relationship for years. One of them was abducted and brutally tortured by government operatives, but when he was returned to his family, they did not kill him. Instead they conspire to leave the country with him. Despite these horrifying circumstances, both men are saddened to be leaving the country of their birth as if a part of who they are will forever be left behind. Through this “storyline”, Welcome to Chechnya becomes a look at all of the identities that make us who we are, not just sexual identity.
Welcome to Chechnya is astonishing old school investigative reporting. We never hear David France or his assistant Igor Myakotin discuss their personal safety and welfare, but we can only assume that they would have been subject to torture and arrest if they were exposed and apprehended during filming. They could not use traditional camera and sound crews. They used a pair of iPhones and other compact equipment to document their immersion in this world. (During the post-screening Q&A, France stated that he was worried about the quality of the audio being captured by their lo-fi approach, but they were fortunate that the raw audio from their cellphone footage proved to be sufficient.)
Secrecy is the life blood of governmental regimes that sponsor the crimes against humanity like those documented in Welcome to Chechnya. This important piece of work brings a corner of the globe into the light where it can be examined and scrutinized. If not for investigative journalists and documentarians like David France, this kind of evil might otherwise continue to thrive in the shadows. It’s a powerful, necessary piece of film-making.
Welcome to Chechnya has been acquired by HBO Films. It’s precise release date is yet to be determined.
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