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Documentary

Welcome to Chechnya

- Inside the Russian Republic's deadly war on gays

This searing investigative work shadows a group of activists risking unimaginable peril to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ program raging in the repressive and closed Russian republic. Unfettered access and a remarkable approach to protecting anonymity exposes this under-reported atrocity–and an extraordinary group of people confronting evil.

Release Date : 2020-01-26

Language :ChechenFrenchEnglishRussian

Adult : false

Status : Released

Production Company : HBO Documentary FilmsPublic Square FilmsDavid France & Joy A. Tomchin FilmNinety Thousand WordsMaylo FilmsBBC Storyville

Production Country : United States of America

Alternative Titles :

Cast

Maxim Lapunov

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Maxim Lapunov

Gender : Male

Olga Baranova

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Olga Baranova

Gender : Female

David Isteev

Character Name : Self

Original Name : David Isteev

Gender : Male

Vladimir Putin

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Vladimir Putin

Gender : Male

Ramzan Kadyrov

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Ramzan Kadyrov

Gender : Male

Zelim Bakaev

Character Name : Self

Original Name : Zelim Bakaev

Gender : Female

Reviews

C

CinemaSerf

@Geronimo1967

2024-09-05

At times this is quite an harrowing documentary to watch as the intimate style of photography illustrates well the persecution of homosexuality in the breakaway eponymous Russian Republic. With President Putin's administration in Moscow denying any systematic abuse of these people, it's left to the local bully-boy governor Ramzan Kadyrov to deny that there are any gay folks in Chechnya and if there are, then they are diluting the pure bloodlines and out to get out. The methods to which the thugs will go to attack their quarry are quite inventive. They use social media to find a victim then use their own contacts and chats to find others - all with a view to beating them to within an inch of their lives then dumping the traumatised and battered people with stark warnings to leave. The narrative here shows the efforts made by various bodies trying to help, but who are themselves facing at best indifference and at worst downright hostility from the national authorities whose complicity in this "cleansing" is only very thinly disguised. The sense of peril faced by these people is well presented and the fact that many have their faces pixellated does bring home the real dangers faced from a vigilante element of society that cares not remotely for any human rights or liberties. It's one of those irrational hatreds that's been drummed into them and that sums up the archetypal bully perfectly. The fleeing characters involved are fearful and terrified half the time, but that doesn't mean that they are going to give up their fight. Even when faced with brutality, they are still determined to serve for equality and freedom under the law. Thing is, those in power simply alter or blur the law to make it even harder for them to achieve basic safety let alone justice. Not an easy watch, but well worth it.