>From a friend in England.
Chris Doss The Russia Journal ---------------------------
Hi, I hope you are well. The documentary film I have been working on (as a translator/ production assistant) in London will be shown in the states today. We just got a call from the Moscow Times... Regards, Karine
"GREETINGS FROM GROZNY" to be broadcast on PBS (USA) on Thursday 25 July 9:00 p.m.
A WILTON FILMS production for WIDE ANGLE/WNET CHANNEL 13 New York
"PLEASE GOD DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME!" screams a Chechen teenager as he is dragged off to an armoured personnel carrier by Russian security forces Ї just one scene from the new documentary GREETING FROM GROZNY.
For the first time, Russian troops are filmed on what they call "cleansing missions" Ї raids by the Federal Security Services to arrest suspected Chechen rebels fighting for independence from Russia.
Documentary crews operated over a three-week period this spring and filmed cleansing operations from both points of view Ї that of the Russian Special Forces and that of the Chechen civilians who are often the greatest victims of the raids. Russians claim these are routine document checks, but human rights groups and Chechen civilians allege these cleansing operations [in Russian - zachistka] routinely violate basic human rights. Greetings from Grozny reveals the terror the Russian security forces regularly employ.
The documentary juxtaposes exclusive access to a detachment of elite Russian Special Forces with a unit of rebel Wahabi fighters. But above all, it provides a moving insight into civilian lives ruined by civil war. Filmmakers lived with Chechen refugees, with civilians both in Grozny and outlying villages, and travelled to the Pankisi Valley in the Chechen-Georgian border area. This is an area that US and Russian intelligence has claimed as a possible new breading ground for radical Islamic fighters allied to al Qaeda.
The ruined cityscape of Grozny and the scarred roads and fields of the countryside, are the setting for this story, and in themselves bear witness to years of conflict marked by harsh occupation and fierce resistance.
Greetings from Grozny continues WIDE ANGLE’S mission to report on the world’s neglected hotspots, clarify the issues and conflicts in direct human terms, and to link those stories and experiences to the American television audience.
WILTON FILMS was founded by Paul Mitchell and Tania Rakhmanova in 1998, and has offices in London and Paris. The company regularly produces current affairs programmes and documentary films for the BBC, DISCOVERY, ARTE, TLC, France3 and other broadcasters in the USA and Europe.
For more information on Greetings From Grozny, visit www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/ AND www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/about/film3.html
Wilton Films' Website Ї www.wiltonfilms.com Ї will be launched in the afternoon (GMT) on Thursday the 25th of July.
Contact us on info at wiltonfilms.com For press review/preview cassettes contact tf at fishercompany.net