Page 30 - bon-dia-aruba-20200630

a30 people & arts
Tuesday 30 June 2020
Using ‘face doubles,’ a new doc captures an anti-LGBTQ purge

By JAKE COYLE Ryan Laney. And its imple-
AP Film Writer mentation was decided
Anonymous sources in through a study organized
documentaries have often by Dartmouth College pro-
been reduced to a shad- fessor Thalia Wheatley, an
owy, voice-distorted figure expert in brain sciences. She
— or worse, a pixelated showed 109 students differ-
blur. ent visual effects options of
But a new documentary "Welcome to Chechnya" to
premiering Tuesday on determine which one con-
HBO has, with the aid of ad- veyed empathy the best
vanced digital technology, and avoided an "uncanny
gone to greater lengths to valley" effect. (Another less
preserve the secrecy of its successful option was using
sources while still convey- filters to render the film's in-
ing their humanity. dividuals cartoon-like cari-
"Welcome to Chechnya," catures.)
directed by David France, Still, adding the face dou-
is about an underground bles throughout the film
pipeline created to rescue This undated photo provided by HBO Documentary Films shows a scene from "Welcome to was a grueling, months-
LGBTQ Chechens from the Chechnya." In documentary film, the anonymous source has often been reduced to a shadowy, long process that only
Russian republic where the voice-distorted figure, or worse, a pixelated blur. concluded a week be-
government has for sev- Associated Press fore the premiere of "Wel-
eral years waged a crack- come to Chechnya" at
down on gays. In the pre- faithfully show the trials they curtain, it lacks the empa- long, in fact, to 22 volun- the Sundance Film Festival
dominantly Muslim region were enduring. This was thy of the public that this teers whose faces were su- in January. "The Irishman,"
in southern Russia ruled by a tragedy that needed a story truly deserves." perimposed on the people by comparison, altered
strongman Ramzan Kady- face. That meant none of France didn't know how he in the film. Most of them its actors' faces in highly
rov, LGBTQ Chechens have the old methods of cloak- would resolve the issue, but are LGBTQ activists in New planned scenes with care-
been detained, tortured ing anonymous sources he promised those he shot York. The "face doubles" fully orchestrated camera
and killed. France, the film- would work. that he would somehow were shot on a blue screen movement. France's docu-
maker behind "How to Sur- "They were dehumanizing," disguise them. After search- stage and converted into mentary was full of erratic
vive a Plague" and "The France said in an interview. ing and testing a range algorithms that, with ma- movements of both cam-
Death and Life of Marsha "I believe one of the reasons of approaches, France chine learning, could digi- era and people.
P. Johnson," worked in se- we haven't been hearing settled on a novel one: In tally mask the subjects of Every step of the way,
crecy with the Russian LGBT about this ongoing crime "Welcome to Chechnya," the film. Different voices France and his editors
Network, a group formed against humanity in the the faces of all the LGBTQ were substituted, too. worked on encryption
to help save gay Chech- south of Russia is because Chechens have been re- "Nobody had ever really at- drives, and never let their
ens and find them asylum we haven't been able to placed using artificial intel- tempted this before," said original footage with real
abroad. But France had a hear from the people and ligence. It's a little like the France. "And most people faces touch the internet or
dilemma. He couldn't re- see the people who have documentary answer to said it was impossible. It even a computer that had
veal the identities, or the suffered this unspeakable "The Irishman" or a more al- turned out it was pretty previously been connect-
faces, of his main charac- torture. When the only tes- truistic version of a "deep- close to impossible but not ed to the internet. They ed-
ters. Their lives depended timony of a crime of this fake." impossible." ited in what France calls a
on staying anonymous. magnitude comes from The faces seen in "Wel- The technology was devel- windowless bunker in Los
Yet France still wanted to people who are behind a come to Chechnya" be- oped by software architect Angeles.q

Netflix series to dramatize Kaepernick’s path to activism

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Colin explore the racial conflicts series was completed in
Kaepernick is joining with I faced as an adopted May, the streaming ser-
Emmy-winning filmmaker Black man in a white com- vice said. DuVernay, writ-
Ava DuVernay on a Netf- munity, during my high er Michael Starrbury and
lix drama series about the school years.” Kaepernick, Kaepernick are the exec-
teenage roots of the for- born to a white mother utive producers. Kaeper-
mer NFL player’s activism. and Black father, was ad- nick will appear as himself
“Colin in Black & White” opted in Wisconsin by a as the limited series’ narra-
will examine Kaepernick’s white couple who moved tor, Netflix said.
high school years to illumi- to California when he was Further casting details and
nate the experiences that a child. a release date were not
shaped his advocacy, In 2016, the San Francisco immediately announced.
Netflix said Monday. 49ers quarterback began Kaepernick called it an
“Too often we see race kneeling during the na- honor to collaborate with
and Black stories por- tional anthem to protest DuVernay, whose credits
trayed through a white police brutality and racial include the award-win-
In this combination photo, filmmaker Ava DuVernay appears
at the Vanity Fair Oscar Party in Beverly Hills, Calif. on Feb. lens,” Kaepernick said in inequality, drawing both ning “When They See Us,”
9, 2020, left, and Colin Kaepernick attends The Metropolitan a statement. “We seek to support and criticism, with which dramatized the
Museum of Art's Costume Institute benefit gala in New York on give new perspective to his detractors including Central Park Five case,
May 6, 2019. the differing realities that President Donald Trump. and the Oscar-nominated
Associated Press Black people face. We Writing on the six-episode documentary “13th.”q