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My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow

Berlinale Special 2025
© Julia Loktev
Soviet-born American filmmaker Julia Loktev travels to Moscow in 2021 to make a film about independent journalists who have been declared “foreign agents” by Putin’s regime. Just four months later, Russia launches its full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine. Through her friend and co-director of the film, Anna Nemzer, a talk show host on Russia’s last remaining independent news channel, Loktev connects with a community of sharp, warm and funny young women who dare to speak truth to power as they face increasing threats. In Moscow, during the first week of the invasion, Loktev films how journalists initially try to counter Russian propaganda and truthfully report on the war, until all independent media is shut down and they are forced to flee the country. Structured in five chapters, the film feels like a cross between a Russian novel and a reality show about a frightening reality. A powerful and intimate look at opposition in a totalitarian society and an extraordinary account of a country on the brink of fascism.
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by Julia Loktev (Director)
with Anna Nemzer, Ksenia Mironova, Sonya Groysman, Olga Churakova, Irina Dolinina, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Elena Kostyuchenko USA 2024 Russian 324' Colour International premiere | Documentary form

With

  • Anna Nemzer (Anya)
  • Ksenia Mironova (Ksyusha)
  • Sonya Groysman (Sonya)
  • Olga Churakova (Olya)
  • Irina Dolinina (Ira)
  • Alesya Marokhovskaya (Alesya)
  • Elena Kostyuchenko (Lena)

Crew

Director Julia Loktev
Cinematography Julia Loktev
Editing Julia Loktev, Michael Taylor
Music Sami Buccella
Sound Design Leslie Shatz
Producer Julia Loktev

Produced by

Marminchilla

Photos

Julia Loktev

© Sandra Gómez

The director was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, and emigrated to the USA when she was nine. Her film Moment of Impact won the Documentary Directing Award at Sundance and the Grand Prize at Cinéma du Reél. Day Night Day Night premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes. Her feature film The Loneliest Planet, starring Gael Garcia Bernal, screened at the New York Film Festival and won the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles. She is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Emerging Icons Award from the George Eastman Museum.

Filmography

1998 Moment of Impact; documentary 2006 Day Night Day Night 2011 The Loneliest Planet 2024 My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow; documentary

Bio- & filmography as of Berlinale 2025