SHOW OF THE WEEK: Welcome to Chechnya (June 30, 9 p.m., HBO)

Grishna, right, and boyfriend Bogdan (not their real names) wait tensely for a flight to take off
as they flee Russia in “Welcome to Chechnya.” PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of HBO

I had forgotten about the 2017 HBO TV interview in which Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov denied that gay men were being tortured in the Russian republic because there were no gay people there.

This documentary by Oscar nominee David France (“How to Survive a Plague”) is a harrowing and heartbreaking repudiation of that nonsense, and a reminder as we finish Pride Month here that gay rights are non-existent in other parts of the world.

France profiles the work done by the Russian LGBT Network to rescue residents at risk of torture and death at the height of the state-sponsored purge of homosexuality in Chechnya.

France posed as a tourist to obtain his guerrilla footage and digitally altered the faces of his subjects in post-production to protect their identities. We go inside a Moscow safe house where gay refugees anxiously await the visas that will allow escape to safe countries (for one man, it becomes too much; he slits his wrist and his house mates must tend the wounds themselves since calling an ambulance is too risky).

We also ride shotgun during the nerve-wracking rescue of a young woman from Grozny whose uncle has threatened to expose her as a lesbian unless she has sex with him. And we watch the scrambled flight from Russia of a man and his entire family after Chechen agents discover where they are hiding: their tension as they wait for the plane to take off is nearly unbearable.

The words of the survivors in this doc are not the only evidence of the detention and torture of gays and lesbians; chilling videos of people being raped and beaten are sprinkled throughout. One of the most distressing shows a man preparing to drop a flagstone on the head of a lesbian relative.

Even one of the rescuers, Olga Baranova, has to flee Russia when her own identity is exposed as she tries to help a young woman who’s being sent back to Chechnya.

One brave victim, Maxim Lapunov, filed a criminal case against Russian authorities, becoming the only person to speak publicly about his detention and torture, but it was briskly dismissed by Russian courts. He has since filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights.

The good news is that the Russian LGBT Network resettled 151 people in the first two years of the purge, 44 of them in Canada with the help of Toronto’s Rainbow Railroad.

But as exhausted rescuer David Isteev says at the documentary’s end: “This story needs a proper ending and that’s still very far away.”

I’ll Be Gone in the Dark (June 28, 10:05 p.m., HBO)

Late author Michelle McNamara, the protagonist of “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,”
with husband Patton Oswalt. PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of HBO

True crime documentaries are still a popular genre with good reason and the story of the Golden State Killer, also known as the East Area Rapist, is among the most fascinating cases.

Former police officer Joseph James DeAngelo is expected to plead guilty Monday to 13 rapes and 13 murders, just a fraction of the sexual assaults and other attacks attributed to him between between 1974 and 1986.

But this documentary series is not as much about DeAngelo as it is about Michelle McNamara, the author and blogger who obsessively researched the case in a bid to unmask the killer — an obsession that contributed to her death in 2016 from an overdose of prescription drugs combined with an undiagnosed heart condition.

Her book “I’ll Be Gone in the Dark,” on which this limited series is based, was published posthumously in 2018 — just a few months ahead of DeAngelo’s arrest — thanks to McNamara’s husband, comedian Patton Oswalt; her researcher and fellow true crime obsessive Paul Haynes; and journalist Billy Jensen.

The series is part true crime survey, part McNamara biography and part love story, but it also gives voice to DeAngelo’s victims, who are still visibly struggling with the trauma inflicted on them.

Say I Do (July 1, Netflix)

From left, Gabriele Bertaccini, Thai Nguyen and Jeremiah Brent prepare
to celebrate their handiwork in “Say I Do.” PHOTO CREDIT: Netflix

This series is basically “Queer Eye” for weddings, but with three gay experts instead of five: interior designer Jeremiah Brent, fashion designer Thai Nguyen and chef Gabriele Bertaccini. But what it most reminds me of is “I Do, Redo,” the Canadian show that was banished from all Bell Media platforms after star Jessica Mulroney was caught misusing her white privilege against a Black social media influencer. The Canadian series featured couples redoing marred first weddings whereas “Say I Do” mainly features pairs marrying for the first time, but the beats are very similar: couples facing hardships, dream weddings pulled off in just days, emotional bonding between brides and grooms and experts. Non-spoiler alert: There will be tears.

“I Do” is one of several shows Netflix is releasing this week, including a revival of the classic documentary series “Unsolved Mysteries” (July 1); fantasy drama “Warrior Nun” (July 2) and “The Baby-Sitters Club,” based on the beloved young adult novels (July 3).

Malory Towers (July 1, 11 a.m., Family Channel)

From left, Ella Bright, Zoey Siewert and Danya Griver in “Malory Towers.”
PHOTO CREDIT: WildBrain Television

You don’t necessarily have to be a tween girl to enjoy this adaptation of the British novels by Enid Blyton, set at a 1940s English boarding school by the sea. The setting is suitably picturesque and the girls pursue their adventures — midnight feasts, telling ghost stories, playing lacrosse, swimming at the rock pool — with a cheerful earnestness that isn’t cloying. The series was partly shot in Toronto and co-stars Canadian actor Zoey Siewert as jokester Alicia.

Hamilton (July 3, Disney Plus)

Lin-Manuel Miranda and Phillipa Soo in the movie version of “Hamilton.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Disney Plus

The monster hit musical “Hamilton” faced a double whammy when the coronavirus hit: it was forced offstage when theatres closed, including here in Toronto, and this movie version had its release curtailed. But its streaming debut should be a boon for Disney Plus, given the insane popularity of the theatrical version, as well as for anyone who’s always wanted to see it and could never score tickets. I haven’t watched the movie, shot in 2016 in New York, but I was lucky enough to see the musical live in Toronto and can vouch for how entertaining is. The bonus here is that you get to see the original Broadway cast, including creator Lin-Manuel Miranda in the starring role.

Cottagers & Indians (July 4, 8 p.m., CBC and CBC Gem)

Drew Hayden Taylor directs and narrates the documentary “Cottagers & Indians.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of CBC

Indigenous author, playwright and filmmaker Drew Hayden Taylor gives the documentary treatment to a longstanding dispute that he has already explored in theatrical form. In a nutshell, Indigenous man James Whetung is seeding huge swaths of Pigeon Lake with wild rice, a traditional Indigenous staple that was virtually wiped out over a century ago due to non-Indigenous development; cottagers like Larry Wood say the rice is impeding their enjoyment of the water and even endangering people since boats have to travel very close to shore to avoid it. The doc makes clear that reconciliation is a complex and difficult process — although Hayden Taylor illustrates that there are places in Canada where Natives and non-Natives are making it work. What’s frustrating is that the doc ends without a resolution in sight, despite the proposal of what seems like a reasonable compromise.

Odds and Ends

Judges Stacey McKenzie, Brooke Lynn Hytes and Jeffrey Bowery-Chapman in “Canada’s Drag Race.”
PHOTO CREDIT: Courtesy of Bell Media

If you love “RuPaul’s Drag Race,” drag queens or just fun, escapist TV, then do tune into “Canada’s Drag Race” (July 2, 9 p.m., Crave). I haven’t yet seen a full episode, but I did get to check in with the resident judges about what to expect. You can read about it here.

“Robot Chicken” returns for a 10th season of stop-motion comedy (June 28, midnight, Adult Swim). “The Sommerdahl Murders” (June 29, Acorn) combine Danish crime drama with marital discord. “Hanna” (July 3, Amazon Prime Video), about a young woman with extraordinary fighting skills, returns for a butt-kicking second season.