HBO will next month broadcast director
David France's chilling documentary Welcome to Chechnya.
The film, which looks at the Russian
republic's campaign to drive sexual minorities underground, premiered
in January at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah to rave reviews.
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.
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.
Welcome to Chechnya premieres on
HBO June 30.