“Unchechen”: A Harrowing Short Puts A Face To The Terror Facing Gay Men In Chechnya

"The sad thing to say is that there is no exaggeration in the film."

From: NewNowNext

A chilling new short film is putting a face to the terror endured by gay men in Chechnya, both from the government and their own families.

According to writer-director Stephen M. Hornby, “Unchechen” is intended to shine a light on the horror of being LGBT in Chechnya, which has most recently manifested in the installment of concentration camps built for the “complete cleansing” of gay people from the region.

The short is produced by digitalSTAGE and is based on a stage version originally performed by the UK theatre collective Take Back this May.

“Some of the details in this case are imagined, but the mechanics of his capture, torture and eventual fate are all based on reports from the few people who have escaped,” Hornby told the Huffington Post. “The sad thing to say is that there is no exaggeration in the film.”

Hornby hopes the film will help bring the stories of LGBT Chechens to the world stage.

“We can read about their story, but it’s not the same as having them tell it. It doesn’t engage us emotionally,” he explained. “So, we wanted to bridge that gap by dramatizing one man’s story. What we hope is that it makes the story real, shocks you and makes you want to help and take some action.”