| Director: | Julia Loktev |
|---|---|
| Production: | Marminchilla (Julia Loktev) |
| Running Time: | 355' |
| Language: | Russian, English |
| Country: | USA |
| Main Cast: | Anna Nemzer, Valeria Ratnikova, Ksenia Mironova, Elena Kostyucheko, Yana Kuchina, Irina Dolinina, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Peter Ruzavin, Nataliya Gumenyuk, Sonya Groysman |
| Cinematographer: | Julia Loktev |
| Editor: | Julia Loktev, Michael Taylor |
| Music: | Sami Buccella |
| Sound: | Julia Loktev, Leslie Shatz |
| Co-director: | Anna Nemzer |
|---|
A group of young journalists flee Moscow when Russia invades Ukraine and shuts down all independent media, turning telling the truth into a crime. Just days before, they were working as part of a vibrant opposition community. Now they’re part of a historic exodus. They leave with a few hours’ notice, carry-on suitcases, and no idea what country they can go to next that will let them stay and keep working. They must quickly get back on their feet to report on the biggest story of their lives, a war they all fiercely oppose. Intimate and immersive, the film sweeps across four years and a dozen countries. The complex, razor sharp and often very funny women – and a few men – gather in apartments that feel like waystations and borrowed offices before being uprooted yet again. They work to bring Russians an alternative to propaganda, speaking out against their country’s war crimes and wrestling with personal moral accountability, even as Russia menaces them with criminal prosecution back home and physical threats abroad. Relying on dark humor to get through dark times, they keep working for the uncertain future of a country they may not return to for decades. As the years pass in exile, they have to redefine what work, family, friendship, love and home mean when you can’t go home.
When I started filming in Moscow in the fall of 2021, I didn’t know I would be capturing history. I began following young journalists when Putin started declaring them “foreign agents,” casting suspicion on anyone who dared tell the truth. Nobody knew that four months later, Russia would start a full-scale war and everyone I was filming would be forced into exile. My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow captured the last days when it was still possible to work voicing dissent in an authoritarian state and the moment almost the entire opposition had to flee. One million people left Russia. In My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile, I was able to capture in real time a historic, ongoing and openended exile from its very first days. Many societies have experienced a sudden political exodus, but this has an added layer — Russia has, in Putin’s words, “spit them out like flies,” but they’re still citizens of a country waging a criminal war. The epic form of the film reflects the scope of the story and the texture of life that happens in-between, the contradictions, the sorrow and the unexpected laughter. I feel lucky to have shared the past five years with these very desirable undesirable friends.
PRODUCTION:
Marminchilla - Julia Loktev,
39 Pearl St. 5F
11201 Brooklyn, NY, United States of America
Tel: +1 9179572783
E-mail: marminchilla@gmail.com
Web: http://www.myundesirablefriends.com
Social Media: @my_undesirable_friends - Instagram
WORLD SALES:
Cinetic - Jason Ishikawa
26 Broadway, 14th Floor
10004 New York, United States of America
Tel: +1 8082776195
E-mail: jason@cineticmedia.com
Web: http://www.cineticmedia.com
PRESS OFFICE:
Claudia Tomassini - claudiatomassini & associates
International Film Publicity
Tel: +49 173 2055794
E-mail: press@claudiatomassini.com
Julie Chappell - Cinetic Marketing - North American Press
E-mail: julie@cineticmedia.com
Additional press officers:
Paola Schettino Nobile - paola@claudiatomassini.com
Lorenzo Ormando - lorenzo@claudiatomassini.com
