‘My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile’ Trailer: Brave Russian Women Journalists Flee Tyranny In Film From Julia Loktev, EPs Meryl Streep, Laura Poitras

EXCLUSIVE: Warsaw, Hamburg, Istanbul, New York – brave Russian journalists who dared to report the truth about their country have had to scatter across the globe to avoid imminent arrest.

News anchors and reporters Anna Nemzer, Irina Dolinina, Ksenia Mironova and more turned My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow into a documentary sensation. The price they paid for their courage becomes clear in the highly anticipated follow up from director Julia Loktev — My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile.

Oscar winners Meryl Streep and Laura Poitras executive produce Part II, which just held its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. We have your exclusive first look at the feature documentary in the trailer above.

“A group of young journalists flee Moscow when Russia invades Ukraine and shuts down all independent media, turning telling the truth into a crime,” notes a synopsis of Part II. “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.”

The synopsis continues, “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.”

My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow was shortlisted for the Academy Awards and won Gotham Award, and the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics awards for Best Documentary. It was named to the Top 10 Films of the Year lists at the New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine, NPR’s Fresh Air and Slate.

My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile will next screen at the New York Film Festival (where Part I held its world premiere in October 2024). Loktev is self-distributing the film theatrically (MUBI has acquired streaming rights to parts I and II and is currently streaming Part I). Part II is an expected Oscar contender this year.

My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile is directed by Julia Loktev, with cinematography by Loktev. The co-director is Anna Nemzer. Loktev and Michael Taylor edited the film. Loktev produced the film; as noted, Meryl Streep and Laura Poitras executive produced. The music is composed by Sami Buccella.

Watch the trailer for My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile above.