'Welcome To Chechnya' Chronicles Abuses Against Its LGBTQ Citizens

  • 📰 NPR
  • ⏱ Reading Time:
  • 100 sec. here
  • 3 min. at publisher
  • 📊 Qulity Score:
  • News: 43%
  • Publisher: 63%

Through the stories of LGBTQ youth and the activists working to help them, a new documentary calls attention to the Russian republic of Chechnya's violent abuses against its LGBTQ citizens.

United States Headlines News

United States Latest News, United States Headlines

and decided to make it the subject of his next film. He embedded himself with Isteev and another activist, Olga Baranova, and began filming some of the young people who turned to them for help. For security reasons, these individuals are introduced with aliases, and their circumstances and whereabouts are left deliberately vague.But as the movie tells us upfront, France took an extraordinary step to protect their identities further, using sophisticated facial-disguise technology.

It's a bold gambit that may put off those who find it too duplicitous in the context of a documentary. 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. Giving them different faces also makes a kind of poetic sense: It's a reminder that to be LGBTQ in a repressive society is to never feel comfortable in your own skin.

One of these digitally altered subjects is a 21-year-old lesbian introduced as"Anya," whose uncle knows her sexual orientation and demands that she sleep with him or risk being outed to her father, a powerful Chechen official. Anya decides to escape, but that isn't so easy with the authorities soon hot on her trail. The Russian LGBT Network moves her into an apartment where she must hole up for weeks on end, waiting for a travel visa that might never arrive.

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. The Network helps him move to an undisclosed location in Europe with his boyfriend of 10 years. Fortunately, the brave Grisha has the support of his immediate family, who decide to move with him; as his mother notes in one poignant scene, her loyalty is to her family — not to an oppressive government.

In one video, an incarcerated man is sexually assaulted off-camera by police. In another, a woman is attacked by a relative who — it's implied but not shown — proceeds to bludgeon her to death. 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. But there's no doubting the depth of its fury and anguish on behalf of the victims and survivors we see — and the many, many more that we don't.

We have summarized this news so that you can read it quickly. If you are interested in the news, you can read the full text here. Read more:

 /  🏆 96. in US
 

Thank you for your comment. Your comment will be published after being reviewed.
Please try again later.

Welcome...or No Trespassers: What’s Wrong with the Movie Welcome to Chechnya?

24/7 alphabet soup crowd brainwashing the population with subjective science and false equivalents isn't a positive thing. wokeculture

WhiteSaviors from the same BlondeHairedBlueEyedJesus worshiping countries (EU, US) that sabataged Chechnya’s fight for independence against the Russians in the 1990’s are continuing the WarOnIslam by trying to export SocialEngineering and SocialDegradation. Great job NPR!

This is some harsh judging and condemnation of Chechnya's Ethnic Culture. NPR shouldn't want to promote that kind of racism and bigotry.

See American gay people: that is what a real oppression looks like. As long as Putin is in power, it's not even smart to fight...

Do they just keep adding letters when they think up a new twist on being a heterosexual deviate? Asking for a friend

All I can send them right now is my love and support online and Hope that it reaches them. Let us know how we can help

Russia is still a sane country.

Watch ‘There are No Fakes’ on Prime, you won’t regret it.

Now do Christians being killed worldwide or does that not fit the narrative

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

China says it will hit back against new U.S. sanctions over Uighur rightsChina said on Friday it would take 'reciprocal measures' against the United States after Washington imposed sanctions on senior Chinese officials over alleged human rights abuses against the Uighur Muslim minority. back up,angry US is coming. lol so what?
Source: Reuters - 🏆 2. / 97 Read more »

Grateful Dead Dose 'Playboy After Dark' Crowd in Graphic Novel, Share Unreleased Version of 'St. Stephen'Ahead of the release of the graphic novel ‘Grateful Dead Origins’ on August 4th, Z2 Comics have shared a hilarious excerpt from the band’s early days — as well as a previously unreleased live performance of “St. Stephen deadgirltoo this comic better be printed on sheets of blotter
Source: RollingStone - 🏆 483. / 51 Read more »

Fashion’s Most Fun-Loving Street Style Photographer Goes Inside the Groovy Fashion of Grateful Dead FansFashion’s most fun-loving street style photographer goes inside the groovy fashion of Grateful Dead fans. See more: PhillNev this u? MISTERMORT Good name for the CIA - Deadheads indeed. MISTERMORT i wanna work for you😭😭😭
Source: VogueRunway - 🏆 705. / 51 Read more »

Money really can buy happiness and recessions can take it awayResidents in the top 10% of countries by spending score their life situation as seven out of ten, compared with just four for those in the bottom 10% No, not at all. That measures if a change in wealth changes happiness. That's too simplistic for a journal like this. Well said
Source: TheEconomist - 🏆 6. / 92 Read more »

Disney World Is Opening On Saturday Because We've Literally Learned NothingDisney World Is Opening On Saturday Because We’ve Literally Learned Nothing
Source: ScaryMommy - 🏆 116. / 63 Read more »