JULIA LOKTEV’S DOCUMENTARY FILM MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I – LAST AIR IN MOSCOW

Moscow, winter 2021. Soviet-born American filmmaker Julia Loktev travels to Russia to document independent journalists declared “foreign agents” by Putin’s regime. Through her friend and co-director Anna Nemzer, a talk show host at TV Rain—the country’s last remaining independent channel—Loktev connects with sharp, warm and funny young women who refuse to stop reporting despite surveillance and legal persecution.

Ksyusha produces stories while her fellow journalist fiancé sits in prison. Anna hosts everyday heroes of resistance while shielding her daughter from escalating threats. Sonya records her “Hi, You’re a Foreign Agent” podcast from her kitchen table, her apartment deliberately bare. Alesya conceals her relationship from her traditional mother while suspecting her office is bugged.

Four months later, Russia launches its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Loktev captures the journalists’ attempts to counter state propaganda until all independent media is shut down and exile becomes the only option.

Structured across five chapters, the film moves between personal intimacy and historical urgency. Oscar-shortlisted and winner of the Critics’ Choice Award at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA), My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, offers an essential chronicle of opposition in a totalitarian society—one that grows more globally relevant each day.

Both parts are directed, produced, and shot as a one-woman crew by Loktev with protagonist and co-director Anna Nemzer, and co-edited by Loktev and long-time collaborator Michael Taylor, ACE (The Farewell). Riva Marker is a consulting producer.

MUBI  WILL RELEASE MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I – LAST AIR IN MOSCOW ON 3 APRIL 2026