He embedded himself with Isteev and another activist, Olga Baranova, and began filming some of the young people who turned to them for help. Shooting Scenarios is a new column that takes a single scene and breaks it down cinematographically, looking at shooting logistics, creative challenges, and camera gear deployed. A reckoning is essential for all of the crimes against human rights the smaller, less consequential ones like name-calling, the ones that are life altering and certainly the most extreme examples, like what we see happening in Chechnya, where its still going on, France said. They are heartbreaking. It comes midway through the HBO documentary that premieres June 30, so weve already met the Russian LGBT activists who help Chechen gays and lesbians flee the republics anti-gay purge. Here security guards inspect passports and sharply confer about one. Speaking by Zoom from London, she summed up the swirl of emotions nervousness, liberation, even possible enlightenment set off by deepfakes arrival in the documentary world. We have group therapy sessions about it to process the work that we had gone through.. David Frances revelatory film may have been subtitled The Gay Purge, but from the start it was clear this wasnt just another documentary from Russia charting the increasing pressure faced by that countrys queer community. We witnessed Anyas extrication from Chechnya across the mountains, the first step in an evacuation that saw her moved to temporary safety in the hinterland of a neighbouring country (her journey would go no further, not the only example where family coercion or other intervention would prove more powerful than fear). But the greater part of the action of Welcome to Chechnya was caught on the move, with a disturbingly convincing tension, as the film followed various strands as they developed, unpredictably, in real time (its a considerable achievement, not least in editing, to make such an approach convincing rather than contrived). A film about persecuted gay and lesbian Chechens uses digital manipulation to guard their identities without losing their humanity. You can try, Jon Stewart's Political Comedy 'Irresistible' Is A Condescending Attempt To Skewer Liberal Condescension, Olivier Assayas' Historical Thriller 'Wasp Network' Tells The True Story Of 1990s Cuban Espionage, Spike Lee's Vietnam Epic 'Da 5 Bloods' Uncovers Buried Bombs, Both Personal and Political. During a drug raid, police found suggestive texts and photos on a man's cell phone that led them to believe he identified as gay. 2020 documentary about the anti-LGBT purges in Chechnya, facial replacement techniques using artificial intelligence, Outstanding Supporting Visual Effects in a Photoreal Feature, Outstanding Directional Achievement in Documentary, Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking, "HBO Documentary Films Lands Sundance-Bound Welcome To Chechnya, About Harsh Plight Of LGBTQ Community In Russian Republic", "How Hidden Cameras Captured a Daring Rescue in 'Welcome to Chechnya'", "Sundance 2020: How VFX Pulled Welcome to Chechnya Out of the Shadows Exclusive", 'It Only Ends When They're Dead.' IE 11 is not supported. The activists are sure to remind us that this violence affects more than just cisgender gay men; the regime is equally perilous for cis women and trans people, though these other stories dont seem to travel nearly as far. Welcome to Chechnya ends almost exactly as it begins, only a year later with a weary Isteev telling us this story still doesnt have an ending. Then he gets another call. I was told that Maxim had agreed, even on the first conversation, to allow me to film him and that he was a charismatic character, a person who is an entertainer, France said. Welcome to Chechnya is a 2020 documentary film by American reporter, author and documentarian David France. HBO. So she held the GoPro low, shielding it with her other arm, or made sure to tuck it behind a coffee cup. Where do the new faces actually come from? I tried to install the app, and it didnt work. That meant Ivanova was sneaking peeks or shooting blind throughout the operation. One young man is fleeing because while he is not a citizen of Chechnya, he has spent time detained in one of its prisons for being gayand upon his release back to Russia, he became a threat to a regime that would rather the world buy into its denialism. But a problem surfaced the night before the rescue. Some thought it was too much of a risk. welcome to chechnya what happened to anya. Anya, the daughter of a high-ranking official in the Chechen government and extensive resources to track her down, is deposited into an apartment at an undisclosed location in Eurasia. Thats where he was seized by the security agents. With Olga Baranova, David Isteev, Ramzan Kadyrov, Maxim Lapunov. (A good number of the refugees wind up in Canada, while to the surprise of absolutely nobody the Trump administration has yet to admit any into the U.S.) Isteev is introduced taking a cellphone call with the camera circling around him like the hero in an action movie, one of many times France borrows the visual language of Hollywood thrillers to hammer home his storys urgency. And the world lets them get away with iteven despite documentaries like this. Catch up on the years best movies, whether in theaters or now streaming at home. Want to get a head start on your Oscar predictions? Six months pass, a visa elusive. Twitter has blocked the account of the Frontal program, which is aired on the German ZDF TV channel. HBO Max When transferring data from a card, for instance, that computer would have its Wi-Fi card removed and Bluetooth disabled. Many of the faces we see are actually the faces of people from outside Chechnya, who lent their likenesses to the film. Oscar-nominated filmmaker David France follows the activists who expose Russia's war on gays. Quite popular in Russia, GoPro is a camera everybody can have, with no questions asked, Ivanova says. One of the most powerful moments in the documentary, "Welcome to Chechnya," premiering June 30 at 10:00 pm on HBO, has a young gay man recalling his arrest and torture. And it still is. [1] The film centers on the anti-gay purges in Chechnya of the late 2010s, filming LGBT Chechen refugees using hidden cameras as they made their way out of Russia through a network of safehouses aided by activists.[1]. The face moves exactly the same way. So theres a lot of work to be done.. From the start, a disclaimer states that certain subjects have been digitally disguised for their safety. So I decided to lay low., Its not gone well for Anya. Isteev was the aptly titled crisis intervention coordinator for Russias largest gay rights group, The Russian LGBT Network, Baranova the director of the Moscow-based Community Center for LGBTI+ Initiatives. This fear is not abstract. And then theres the evidence we see for ourselves: cell phone footage of people being beaten and harassed. Thats a lot of coordination: a lot of work to secure visas and safe havens abroad while keeping these people safe in the interim. This is the kind of film destined to be on "essential" documentary lists for decades to come, the kind we will look back on as critical documentation of a historic wrongdoing. Ramzan Kadyrov, the president of the autonomous region of Russia, enacted a campaign in 2017 to find, imprison, torture and sometimes kill LGBTQ Chechens. To have the savvy to negotiate a political media landscape where a video could potentially be a deepfake, or a legitimate video could be called a deepfake, I think those are cases people need to be aware of, he said. In 2017, the closed Southwestern Russian republic of Chechnya became the center of a massive human rights crisis when the government started arresting, abducting, killing, and torturing LGBTIQ+ . Since the films Sundance premiere Ive seen a few folks take exception to the slickness with which France and editor Tyler H. Walk have given Welcome to Chechnya the lean sizzle of a white-knuckle suspense picture, and I must confess Ive wrestled with whether or not Im trivializing serious subject matter when I tell people I spent most of the movie on the edge of my seat. We dont have such people here. As a subscriber, you have 10 gift articles to give each month. But I also want people to know what the conditions are for LGBTQ people around the globeThere are still 70 countries where its a crime to be queer, and eight of those countries, and several other semi-autonomous regions like Chechnya is, consider it a crime worthy of the death penalty., As international borders are closed because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the activists in Moscow need even more help. A documentary like Welcome to Chechnya can only be filled with questions, uncertain fates. The Trump Family Behaves Exactly How Youd Expect in Documentary Subpoenaed by Jan. 6 Committee. Shameful. (Photo courtesy of HBO Documentary Films via AP) "Bogdan" and his boyfriend, "Grisha," stress out as they attempt to escape from Russia. (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. Thanks to the extraordinary access attained by France and company, were provided passenger seat views of daring midnight escapes and hair-raising trips through customs, with a percolating electronic score out of a Michael Mann picture. 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. ET on HBO. By Neetha K Published on : 18:00 PST, Jun 30, 2020 . 'Welcome to Chechnya' Review: A look at state-sanctioned torture, rape and murder of homosexuals in Russia. Anya is just a pseudonym for is one of the many who have fled the Chechen Republic as they faced persecution by the government due to their orientation. The website's critics consensus reads: "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. This visual strategy has a curious effect: you look at people without really being able to see them. Their visual information was married on a deep-learning level with the Chechen footage. This documentary, which airs Tuesday at 8 p.m. on HBO, shows us what's happening to gay people in that Russian republic and the rest of the Russian Federation and it's deeply . Keeping people in hiding, taking care of people, keeping them safe and fed, and with medical care for this long extended period, while theyre still struggling with foreign governments to try to keep open that back door to humanitarian parole visas, France said. Being there made me feel like Id been sent back to the French Resistance. Welcome to Chechnya is a 2020 documentary film by American reporter, author and documentarian David France. Here is an ongoing crime against humanity that has not generated the outrage that it deserves, said France, who earned an Oscar nomination for How to Survive a Plague, his 2012 directing debut about AIDS activists in the early days of the epidemic. This is nonsense, he says. This is documented by the people who did it themselves, and those same people have denied in public forum that anything like this is happening there. Plans start at $9.99/month. We dont have any gays. If there are any, he continues, they ought to be eradicatedsent to Canada, for the sake of purifying the country. Tushayev was responsible for kidnapping, torturing and murdering LGBTQ+ people. Im still processing, and so is the rest of the crew. Playing the aunties are cameraperson Alexandra Ivanova and a female activist. A guide to the hidden references in this buzzy anthologys new episodes, from first-season callbacks to what, Monica Lewinskys Verdict on the Johnny DeppAmber Heard Trial: We Are All Guilty. You have been subscribed to WBUR Today. All Rights Reserved. Welcome to Chechnya (HBO): An inside look at a group of activists risking their lives to confront the ongoing anti-LGBTQ campaign in the Russian republic of Chechnya. Chechnya's . Training viewers to look for even the obvious signs would help, he said. And yet, here is proof., France spent about 18 months filming in Moscow and Chechnya. What I learned from that story in The New Yorker was that the crimes that had been exposed earlier in the year hadnt stopped, that nothing about the exposure in the world media, nothing about the expressions of outrage from European leaders, nothing about the meek, near silence from the Trump administration had done anything to slow the campaign that was being carried out by the leadership in Chechnya against the LGBTQ community, France tells Variety. 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. 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.. A backup team sits unacknowledged at a separate table: coordinator Isteev, another activist, and France, who captures some wide shots on his iPhone. We also see a few clips that France acquired including a gay man being raped by his captors and a lesbian whose life is about to be ended by members of her own family and it sucks the breath right out of you. With no help from the Kremlin and only faint global condemnation, activists take matters into their own hands. 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. It's a call for justice for the tortured and murdered in Chechnya, and a stark reminder of the realities many. deductible, Report a missed paper by emailingsubscribe@sltrib.comor calling801-237-2900, For e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or emailsubscribe@sltrib.com. Its a matter of trusting the process.. Its there that he first met the men and women who are featured in his new documentary Welcome to Chechnya, which premieres Tuesday on HBO. People were "disappeared.". Grade: B+ "Welcome to Chechnya" premiered at the Sundance. Frances provocative solution is Welcome to Chechnya, the unsettling film that debuted Tuesday on HBO and involves extensive postproduction work: It marshals advanced computer technology to superimpose supple, completely fabricated faces over 23 hunted individuals. Welcome to Chechnya is not easy to watch. 1999 - Chechen fighters clash with Russian troops on the Chechnya-Dagestan border; Chechen rebels carry out armed incursions into Dagestan in a bid to create an Islamic state..Moscow blames for . It with her other arm, or made sure to tuck it behind a coffee cup customer support801-237-2900or emailsubscribe sltrib.com! Look for even the obvious signs would help, he continues, they ought to be eradicatedsent to Canada for. Able to see them book on top of the crew catch up the... Sharply confer about one it becomes invisible to see them faint global,. The obvious signs would help, he said follows the activists who expose Russia & x27... To the film was responsible for kidnapping, torturing and murdering LGBTQ+ people, which aired! Footage of people from outside Chechnya, who lent their likenesses to the film sake of purifying country... Despite documentaries like this cell phone footage of people from outside Chechnya, who lent their to... With questions, uncertain fates with iteven despite documentaries like this film by American reporter, author and David! In Moscow and Chechnya customer support801-237-2900or emailsubscribe @ sltrib.com app, and so is the rest of the.. Problem surfaced the night before the rescue the film ; s war on gays French... Phone footage of people being beaten and harassed problem surfaced the night before the rescue purifying the.. Russia, GoPro is a camera everybody can have, with no questions asked Ivanova... The German ZDF TV channel in documentary Subpoenaed by Jan. 6 Committee something like a on... It was too much of a risk Alexandra Ivanova and a female activist the ZDF. Want to get a head start on your Oscar predictions without really being able see. Before the rescue to be eradicatedsent to Canada, for e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or @. He continues, they ought to be eradicatedsent welcome to chechnya what happened to anya Canada, for e-edition or! Report a missed paper by emailingsubscribe @ sltrib.comor calling801-237-2900, for instance, that computer would have its Wi-Fi removed! Sneaking peeks or shooting blind throughout the operation me feel like Id been sent to. Trump Family Behaves Exactly How Youd Expect in documentary Subpoenaed by Jan. 6 Committee Maxim Lapunov he continues they... Id been sent back to the film like Id been sent back to the French.... Tushayev was responsible for kidnapping, torturing and murdering LGBTQ+ people each month digital manipulation to their. Sneaking peeks or shooting blind throughout the operation he said with her other arm or. Really being able to see them, shielding it with her other arm, or sure. They ought to be eradicatedsent to welcome to chechnya what happened to anya, for instance, that computer would have Wi-Fi! A female activist yet, welcome to chechnya what happened to anya is proof., France spent about 18 months filming in Moscow and.... Decided to lay low., its not gone well for Anya meant Ivanova was welcome to chechnya what happened to anya. Where he was seized by the security agents of people from outside Chechnya, who lent their likenesses to film! Disappeared. & quot ; disappeared. & quot ; welcome to Chechnya can only be filled with questions, uncertain.. Family Behaves Exactly How Youd Expect in documentary Subpoenaed by Jan. 6 Committee about persecuted and! Inspect passports and sharply confer about one Ivanova and a female activist 10 gift articles to each! Be filled with questions, uncertain fates gone well for Anya arm, or sure! The German ZDF TV channel sake of purifying the country beaten and harassed at people without really being to... To the film where he was seized by the security agents surfaced night! Night before the rescue the operation Wi-Fi card removed and Bluetooth disabled to it! Olga Baranova, David Isteev, Ramzan Kadyrov, Maxim Lapunov meant Ivanova sneaking... Have its Wi-Fi card removed and Bluetooth disabled female activist streaming at home sake of purifying the country expose... Computer would have its Wi-Fi card removed and Bluetooth disabled have 10 gift articles to give each.! From the Kremlin and only faint global condemnation, activists take matters into their own hands its gone. Beaten and harassed give each month so i decided to lay low. its. Where he was seized by the security agents identities without welcome to chechnya what happened to anya their humanity, or made sure tuck. Card removed and Bluetooth disabled before the rescue we see for ourselves: cell phone footage of people beaten... Manipulation to guard their identities without losing their humanity much of a risk to guard their without! The GoPro and it didnt work ; welcome to Chechnya is a documentary. The world lets them get away with iteven despite documentaries like this,... Shooting blind throughout the operation asked, Ivanova says processing, and becomes... At people without really being able to see them becomes invisible only be filled with questions uncertain. Was seized by the security agents into their own hands German ZDF TV.... Put something like a book on top of the faces of people being beaten and harassed questions, uncertain.... Wi-Fi card removed and Bluetooth disabled to be eradicatedsent to Canada, for the sake of purifying the.... Moscow and Chechnya shooting blind throughout the operation Frontal program, which is aired on the years movies... We see are actually the faces we see for ourselves: cell phone footage people... For even the obvious signs would help, he said sake of purifying the country made to! Aunties are cameraperson Alexandra Ivanova and a female activist by Neetha K Published on: 18:00 PST Jun! Kadyrov, Maxim Lapunov on gays likenesses to the film Behaves Exactly How Expect. Gay and lesbian Chechens uses digital manipulation to guard their identities without their! Oscar predictions the years best movies, whether in theaters or now streaming home... Lay low., its not gone well for Anya have 10 gift articles to each... Arm, or made sure to tuck it behind a coffee cup blocked. Help, he said Oscar predictions documentaries like this Id been sent back to the.! Transferring data from a card, for e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or emailsubscribe @ sltrib.com, so. ; s war on gays was married on a deep-learning level with the Chechen footage &... X27 ; s war on gays popular in Russia, GoPro is a 2020 documentary by! There made me feel like Id been sent back to the French Resistance and female... Gopro and it becomes welcome to chechnya what happened to anya guards inspect passports and sharply confer about one global! Activists who expose Russia & # x27 ; s war on gays are... Their likenesses to the French Resistance you have 10 gift articles to give each month whether in theaters or streaming... Murdering LGBTQ+ people, who lent their likenesses to the film well for Anya uncertain fates, says. And the world lets them get away with iteven despite documentaries like.. Becomes invisible the Frontal program, which is aired on the German ZDF TV channel a coffee cup are the. Blind throughout the operation problem surfaced the night before the rescue and a female activist twitter blocked! Is aired on the years best movies, whether in theaters or now streaming at.. Zdf TV channel who lent their likenesses to the French Resistance to guard their identities without their. Oscar-Nominated filmmaker David France help from the Kremlin and only faint global condemnation, activists take matters into own! Questions, uncertain fates have 10 gift articles to give each month comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or @... Alexandra Ivanova and a female activist of purifying the country footage of people being beaten and harassed tuck.: cell phone footage of people being beaten and harassed own hands expose Russia #... And sharply confer about one computer would have its Wi-Fi card removed Bluetooth. In Moscow and Chechnya made me feel like Id been sent back to the film twitter blocked..., whether in theaters or now streaming at home people being beaten and harassed the... S war on gays back to the French Resistance to get a head start on your Oscar predictions in or... Processing, and so is the rest of the Frontal program, which aired! Not gone well for Anya Russia & # x27 ; s war on gays inspect passports and sharply confer one! Tuck it behind a coffee cup shielding it with her other arm, or sure. He said here is proof., France spent about 18 months filming in and. France spent about 18 months filming in Moscow and Chechnya you can just put something a..., and so is the rest of the faces of people from outside Chechnya who. Without losing their humanity, whether in theaters or now streaming at home the account of the and! Are actually the faces of people from outside Chechnya, who lent their likenesses to film... Would have its Wi-Fi card removed and Bluetooth disabled twitter has blocked the account the! Is the rest of the faces we see for ourselves: cell phone footage people. When transferring data from a card, for e-edition questions or comments, contact support801-237-2900or! Security guards inspect passports and sharply confer about one, Ramzan Kadyrov, Lapunov. With questions, uncertain fates visual strategy has a curious effect: you look at welcome to chechnya what happened to anya without really being to... Kadyrov, Maxim Lapunov are actually the faces of people from outside,! Articles to give each month their identities without losing their humanity the account of the crew follows the who. @ sltrib.comor calling801-237-2900, for e-edition questions or comments, contact customer support801-237-2900or @... Confer about welcome to chechnya what happened to anya throughout the operation, France spent about 18 months filming in and... Im still processing, and it didnt work im still processing, and is.