My Unwanted Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow Trailer: Julia Loktev Makes a Comeback with a Significant Documentary

      After a lengthy thirteen years since her last acclaimed film, The Loneliest Planet, Julia Loktev made her return last fall with a five-hour documentary, the first part of a two-part project. World-premiering at the New York Film Festival, the deeply personal and complex My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow captures Loktev’s perspective on Putin’s attack on independent journalism in Russia, which has only intensified due to his aggression towards Ukraine. The film is set to debut on August 15 at YNC’s Film Forum and showcases Loktev documenting a group of her friends who are striving to support TV Rain, the last independent news channel in Russia. Ahead of the release, the initial trailer has been unveiled.

      Here’s the synopsis: “Moscow, winter 2021: At TV Rain, the sole remaining independent channel, young journalists are labeled “foreign agents”— subject to surveillance or worse, and mandated to label their reports with disclaimers indicating they are serving foreign powers. Regardless, Ksyusha passionately produces and edits stories to distract herself from her fiancé’s imprisonment; Anya interviews everyday heroes of resistance while trying to protect both her mental health and her young daughter from the regime’s ongoing turmoil; Sonya records the “Hi, You’re a Foreign Agent” podcast at her kitchen table, gazing at her empty living room (why invest in a sofa when her future is uncertain?); Alesya battles anxiety over her office potentially being bugged while concealing her relationship with her girlfriend from her traditional mother. With Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looming just weeks away, these Gen-Z heroines face absurd propaganda and personal risks, determined to fight for the soul of a country they hold dear until the very end.”

      In his review for NYFF, Luke Hicks remarked, “Through Loktev’s immersive approach, we begin to grasp how the foundation is set for propagandizing and miseducating the masses, a significant portion of whom can see through it. A Russian website aimed at hiring nannies is marked with a state banner: ‘Ukrainian nannies have attacked Moscow!’ it claims, insisting that anyone visiting the site should hire only Russian-born nannies. This is how it unfolds. The journalists liken the signing and the subsequent implementation of corrupt laws by the Kremlin to the ‘lawful’ criminalization of free speech akin to the Third Reich.”

      Watch the trailer below and read our interview with Loktev here.