Julia Loktev on My Undesirable Friends: Part One – Last Air in Moscow

It has been far too long since we had a new film to savour from Julia Loktev, the Soviet-born American director of the brilliant dramas Day Night Day Night and The Loneliest Planet. Now, 14 years after that latter film, Loktev has returned with a monumental new documentary project. My Undesirable Friends is her collective portrait of some of the last independent journalists working in Russia in the run-up to, and aftermath of, the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Part One, titled Last Air in Moscow, was shot entirely on iPhone during Loktev’s trips to the Russian capital. Over more than five immersive hours, we follow journalists from the TV channel Rain and other oppositional outlets as they struggle to keep pace with Russia’s descent into the abyss. It’s an immersive and gut wrenching account of the state’s attacks on opposition media and free thinking, from labelling journalists as “foreign agents” to outright assault and arrest.

Host Sam Goff sat down with Julia to find out how the film evolved over time, the relationship between her work in fiction and documentary, and where she’s at with Part Two of the project, entitled Exile, which follows our journalist protagonists after they are forced to flee Russia.

Last Air in Moscow is currently screening in select locations across the US. Find your nearest screening here.

Get in touch: podcast@klassiki.online.

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Intro music by Juliet Merchant.