A six-hour documentary tracking dissident Russian journalists forced into exile premieres at Film Forum next month.

MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART II — EXILE picks up where Julia Loktev’s award-winning LAST AIR IN MOSCOW left off. When Russia shut down all independent media, these young journalists fled Moscow to keep reporting without going to prison. Now they’re scattered across a dozen countries, from Istanbul to New York, still covering Putin’s war crimes while facing death threats and being labeled terrorists by their own government.

Loktev spent four years following these reporters as they navigate love, friendship, and home from exile, knowing they may never return to Russia.

The documentary is split into five chapters across 355 minutes. Film Forum will screen it in two parts, each requiring separate admission. Executive producers include Meryl Streep and Laura Poitras.

LAST AIR IN MOSCOW swept awards in 2025, winning the Gotham, New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and National Society of Film Critics prizes for best documentary. It was also Oscar-shortlisted and landed on year-end top 10 lists at The New York Times, The New Yorker, and NPR’s Fresh Air.

The sequel world premiered at Venice, played Telluride, and hits the New York Film Festival’s main slate before opening October 9.

For indie doc makers, this is what sustained, intimate journalism looks like on screen.