How do you report the information if your individual authorities is in opposition to the reality being uncovered? Julia Loktev’s acclaimed documentary “My Undesirable Mates: Half 1 — Final Air in Moscow” examines this now common query as unbiased journalists worldwide are being labeled as treasonous dissenters. “My Undesirable Mates” takes place in Moscow throughout the winter of 2021, with the final remaining indie information station struggling to report on the invasion of Ukraine.
The all-female employees are quickly deemed enemies of the state, and are pressured to enter hiding after later being declared overseas brokers. “My Undesirable Mates” premiered on the 2024 New York Movie Competition and screened at Berlinale 2025.
The official synopsis reads: “At TV Rain, the one remaining unbiased channel, younger journalists have been branded ‘overseas brokers’ — focused for surveillance or worse, and required to tag their reporting with a disclaimer that they’re serving overseas powers. Regardless, Ksyusha furiously produces and edits tales to distract herself from her fellow-journalist fiancé’s imprisonment; Anya hosts on a regular basis heroes of resistance on her interview present, whereas shielding each her sanity and her younger daughter from the regime’s relentless ‘fuckery’; Sonya produces the ‘Hello, You’re a Overseas Agent’ podcast at her kitchen desk whereas beholding her empty front room (why purchase a settee when who is aware of what is going to occur to her?); and Alesya fends off anxiousness that her workplace has been bugged, whereas hiding her relationship together with her girlfriend from her conventional mom. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is simply weeks away, as these Gen-Z heroines confront propagandist absurdity and private endangerment, preventing for the soul of a rustic they like to the bitter finish.”
The IndieWire evaluation chosen the characteristic as a Critics’ Decide, with the timeliness of the doc particularly being praised. “My Undesirable Mates” is described as an “addictive thriller that will get to know its topics with the fly-on-the-wall intimacy of a actuality TV present.”
“‘Being on the proper place on the proper time — or the fallacious place on the fallacious time’ is how ‘The Loneliest Airplane’ director Julia Loktev has described the circumstances that led to the documentary she’s made about Nemzer’s work. First conceived as a take a look at the day by day lives of reporters who’ve been branded ‘overseas brokers’ by their very own authorities, the essence of the challenge — now a five-part, five-and-a-half-hour epic — was profoundly remodeled 4 months into manufacturing, when Russia launched a full-scale invasion in opposition to Ukraine,” the evaluation reads. “What begins as Loktev’s try to grasp what it’s wish to be pressured to mark oneself as ‘different’ — proper right down to disclosing overseas agent standing alongside marriage ceremony footage in social media posts — step by step turns into an unintentional journey into the method of decision-making on the finish of the world…”
Movie Discussion board will launch “My Undesirable Mates: Half 1 — Final Air in Moscow” in NYC August 15 with a nationwide rollout to comply with. Try the trailer beneath.