New People: My Undesirable Friends: Part 2 – Exile (Chapters 1–3)

All listed screenings take place at NEW PEOPLE CINEMA, located at 1746 Post Street in Japantown.

Recorded introduction by Executive Producer Meryl Streep

A group of young journalists deemed “foreign agents” flee Moscow on a moment’s notice when Putin shuts down all independent media, part of a historic exodus of Russians opposed to the war. In her riveting follow-up to MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW, which swept critics’ awards last year, Julia Loktev tracks these courageous, sharply funny women (and a few men) across a dozen countries, to Istanbul, Tbilisi, Prague, Vienna, Amsterdam, New York… Over four years, they struggle to find a sense of place in exile as they report the truth to Russians on their country’s war crimes, even as they face death threats and are declared Extremists and Terrorists. They keep working for the uncertain future of a country they may not return to for decades, while figuring out what family, friendship, love and home mean when you can’t go home. (You can watch EXILE without seeing LAST AIR IN MOSCOW).

“An Essential Chronicle of Reporters Under Fire… this epic study of persecution and resistance…” –The Hollywood Reporter

GRIPPING FROM START TO FINISH.”
– Sam Adams, Slate

CRITIC’S PICK. “Gripping… Expect to find yourself riveted… Grand in scale but entirely intimate in scope, what she’s achieved here is a landmark work that will go down as one of the boldest documentary achievements of the 21st century.”
– Ryan Lattanzio, IndieWire

“A riveting and vital portrait of media courage under fire. It’s as must-see as they get.”
– Nick Schager, Daily Beast

CRITIC’S PICK. “Essential. Riveting.”
– Alissa Wilkinson, The New York Times

“Monumental… It’s great cinema.”
– Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine/Vulture

“The follow-up to 2024’s LAST AIR IN MOSCOW proves every bit as compelling, if more intimate… EXILE deepens the viewer’s connection to Loktev’s journalists while introducing engaging new subjects… Funny, resilient, and vibrant, Loktev’s subjects have lost their home but not their defiant spirit.”
– Tim Grierson, Screen

“RIVETING. A globetrotting journey that proves harrowing in unexpected ways over an engrossing five chapters… Loktev and co-editor Michael Taylor have crafted a conversational epic that imbues each twist and turn with enormous stakes… Speaking truth to power with the online tools at their disposal, this murderer’s row consists of lively, awkward, driven, beautiful, lovestruck, and above-all complicated people, all caught in impossible personal and professional deadlocks and weighed down by immigrant uncertainty.”
– Siddhant Adlakha, Variety

“STAGGERING. GRIPPING. [A] massive monument to journalism, competing in length and ambition with legendary feats of nonfiction like SHOAH and the UP series… a celebration of truth in an endless fight against deception.”
– Jacob Oller, AV Club

“An essential chronicle of reporters under fire… Loktev, who shot the entire 12-hour doc herself, turns each reporter into the character of a real-life series unfolding before our eyes as the years go by and the war inevitably drags on… [she] creates an intimacy that goes beyond the international crises and political upheavals to focus on the human costs of an unending conflict.”
– Jordan Mintzer, The Hollywood Reporter

“CHILLING. The film’s final chapter has the charge of an espionage thriller.”
– Marshall Shaffer, Slant

“BRILLIANT. Keeping us on the edge of our seats for 6 hours. A moving tribute to the necessity of resistance.”
– Boris Bastide, Le Monde

Chapters 4-5 will screen November 7 also at New People