My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow

American filmmaker Julia Loktev, born in the Soviet Union, returned to Moscow in 2021 to begin a documentary on the persistence of independent media journalism in Putin’s Russia—just months, as it turned out, before the country’s invasion of Ukraine. Loktev immerses herself with a group of young women striving to ensure the expression of dissent and outspoken criticism of the government, even as they are labeled foreign agents—soon discovering that their careers and even their lives are at risk as the country moves toward war.

Loktev’s award-winning new documentary, with climactic scenes filmed in Moscow during the first week of the invasion, offers a historic and suspenseful depiction of a moment of immense change and anxiety. It is also one of the most powerful films about the challenges and importance of independent journalism in the modern era. In Russian with English subtitles.

“An invaluable document of what it’s like to be one of the last voices of dissent."– New York Magazine