In the fall of 2021, Julia Loktev traveled to Moscow to film journalists facing governmental pressure as independent media crumbled under designations of foreign agents. Journalists, including Anna Nemzer and young podcasters Sonya Groysman and Olga Churakova, encountered new challenges such as mandatory financial disclosures and disclaimers in their work. Loktev originally intended to document their resilience but created a poignant record of the deteriorating state of free press in Russia. Her film, 'My Undesirable Friends: Part One Last Air in Moscow,' serves as a testament to a vanishing world of independent journalism under Putin's regime.
In Moscow, the Russian government intensified its crackdown on independent media, labeling outlets and journalists as foreign agents, severely restricting their operations.
Directors Loktev’s film captures the struggles of independent journalists under an oppressive regime, documenting the vital but perilous existence of media in Russia.
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