Director David France's upcoming
documentary Welcome to Chechnya will premiere at next month's
Sundance Film Festival in Utah.
France is known for the AIDS
documentary How to Survive a Plague and The Death and Life
of Marsha P. Johnson, which looks at the life of transgender
activist Marsha P. Johnson, who was known as “the Rosa Parks of the
LGBT movement.”
(Related: Documentary
on transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson premieres on Netflix.)
In Welcome to Chechnya, France
moves from documenting the past to the present, specifically the
brutal atrocities against gay and transgender people in the
repressive Russian republic of Chechnya.
France's film documents how LGBT people
are fleeing Chechnya with the help of a group of brave activists.
According to Deadline,
HBO has already purchased the documentary, which it is expected to
debut in June.
In a statement, France said that he was
“thrilled” to partner with HBO to “help shed light on this
ongoing humanitarian crisis.”
“Welcome to Chechnya needed a
distributor that is fearless and believes in the power of social
justice filmmaking,” France said.
How to Survive a Plague was
nominated for an Oscar.