May 22, 2020
Watch: HBO Shares Trailer for 'Welcome to Chechnya,' a New Doc About the Abuse of LGBTQ People
READ TIME: 1 MIN.
HBO is sharing the trailer for "Welcome to Chechnya," a new documentary that details the "ongoing anti-LGBTQ persecution in the repressive and closed Russian republic of Chechnya."
The new film, which will hit HBO and HBO Max on June 30, comes from Oscar-nominated filmmaker David France ("How to Survive a Plague," "The Death and Life of Marsha P. Johnson). HBO writes the doc "exposes Chechnya's underreported atrocities while highlighting a group of people who are confronting brutality head-on."
"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," HBO adds.
In May 2019, The Human Rights Campaign reported a new wave of gay men being detained and tortured in the Russian republic of Chechnya.
"Welcome to Chechnya" debuted earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival where France talked about the film when speaking with the Associated Press.
"They were dehumanizing," France said of the persecuted LGBTQ people. "I believe one of the reasons we haven't been hearing about this ongoing crime against humanity in the south of Russia is because we haven't been able to hear from the people and see the people who have suffered this unspeakable torture. When the only testimony of a crime of this magnitude comes from people who are behind a curtain, it lacks the empathy of the public that this story truly deserves."
Watch the "Welcome to Chechnya" trailer below.
