MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART II — EXILE to Open at Film Forum
Executive produced by Meryl Streep and Laura Poitras, the film tracks dissident reporters separated from Russia after the government shut down independent media.
Film Forum will present the US theatrical premiere of MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART II — EXILE, directed by Julia Loktev, on Friday, October 9.
When Russia shuts down all independent media, a group of young dissident journalists must flee Moscow so they can keep reporting and not go to prison. In her riveting follow-up to last year's awards-sweeping MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW, Julia Loktev tracks these courageous, sharply funny women (and a few men) as they fan out across a dozen countries, to Istanbul, Tbilisi, Prague, Vienna, Amsterdam, New York, and beyond. Over the course of four years, they continue to report the truth to Russians from exile, covering their country's war crimes, even as they face death threats and are declared extremists and terrorists -- as they find new meanings of family, friendship, love, and home far from the country to which they may never return. (Viewers can follow EXILE without first seeing LAST AIR IN MOSCOW.)
The film is executive produced by Meryl Streep and Laura Poitras.
MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART II — EXILE had its world premiere at the 2026 Venice Film Festival, followed by Telluride, and will be featured at the forthcoming New York Film Festival in the Main Slate. It is the follow up to the critically acclaimed MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW, which in 2025 won the Gotham Award, and the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, National Society of Film Critics awards for Best Documentary/Non-Fiction, was nominated for a Spirit Award and Shortlisted for the Oscars. It was on 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.
The film will be shown in two sections. Each section is a separate admission.
Screenings
Wednesday, September 23 at 9:30am — Film Forum (209 W. Houston St.) — Chapters 1-3 (192min): Chapter 1: The Flies; Chapter 2: Not Home; Chapter 3: Strangers Everywhere
Thursday, September 24 at 9:30am — Film Forum (209 W. Houston St.) — Chapters 4-5 (164 min): Chapter 4: Our Army; Chapter 5: The Normal Not Normal
Credits
MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART II — EXILE (2026, 355 minutes). Director: Julia Loktev. Producer: Julia Loktev. Cinematography: Julia Loktev. Editors: Julia Loktev, Michael Taylor. Co-director: Anna Nemzer. Music: Sami Buccella. With Anna Nemzer, Valeria Ratnikova, Ksenia Mironova, Elena Kostyucheko, Yana Kuchina, Irina Dolinina, Alesya Marokhovskaya, Peter Ruzavin, Nataliya Gumenyuk, Sonya Groysman. U.S. In Russian with English Subtitles.
The film is presented with support from the Ashes and Diamonds Fund for Eastern European Film and The Endowed Fund for Emerging Filmmakers.
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