Welcome to Chechnya is a 2020 documentary film directed by David France. The film follows a group of LGBTQ activists and volunteers who operate a secret safe house in Chechnya, a highly conservative and repressive Russian republic known for its anti-LGBTQ laws and widespread human rights abuses.
The film focuses on the stories of several LGBTQ Chechens who have been targeted by the government and their families for their sexuality or gender identity, and who have been forced to flee their homes. The activists work to help these individuals escape to safe houses in other parts of Russia or abroad, often risking their own lives in the process.
The film also explores the wider context of the anti-LGBTQ crackdown in Chechnya, including interviews with journalists, experts, and survivors of torture and abuse. It sheds light on the brutal tactics used by the Chechen government to suppress dissent, including kidnapping, torture, and extrajudicial killings.
The filmmakers used groundbreaking technology to protect the identities of the survivors and activists featured in the film. They employed a "face-swapping" technique to overlay the faces of the survivors with the faces of volunteers, to help protect their anonymity.
Welcome to Chechnya premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2020, where it received critical acclaim and won the Special Jury Award for Editing. The film was released in select theaters and on HBO in June 2020.