Meryl Streep says fellow Oscar winner Colin Firth first brought Julia Loktev’s documentary My Undesirable Friends to her attention. Streep later became an executive producer of its second part, My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile, which follows Russian journalists forced to leave the country.
Introducing a screening at New York’s Film Forum over the weekend, Streep recalled watching the first film while she was in London working on The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician’s Nephew. Firth called her on a day off and asked her to watch My Undesirable Friends: Part I – Last Air in Moscow, which he was trying to bring to the London Film Festival.
Streep expected a documentary of around 90 minutes. Instead, she watched for five and a half hours, later saying she was “absolutely entranced” by the story. Part I, which was shortlisted for an Oscar, runs five hours and 24 minutes.
The film follows Anna Nemzer, Elena Kostyuchenko, Sonya Groysman and other journalists working for TV Rain, Novaya Gazeta and independent Russian news outlets. The documentary describes how journalists who did not follow the Kremlin line were pressured to identify as foreign agents. After Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, they faced possible arrest if they stayed.
Part II – Exile examines the journalists’ departures from Russia, often with little notice. Streep described it as a story of mostly young women leaving their families and lives behind without knowing where they would go or how long they would be away. She said the film explores how people confront a future that may seem foreseeable but still arrives as a shock.
Loktev directed and shot Part II, with Anna Nemzer as co-director. Loktev and Michael Taylor edited the film. Loktev produced it, while Streep and Oscar winner Laura Poitras served as executive producers; Sami Buccella composed the music.
My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile opened at Film Forum on October 9 and is scheduled to open at Chicago’s Siskel Film Center on December 5.
Sources: Deadline.