Who’s afraid of a 6-hour documentary about exiled Russian journalists?

Julia Loktev’s new documentary begins almost like a tense Hollywood spy thriller. The journalists she’s filming on her iPhone scramble to get out of Russia, many without a plan or lodging and with only a carry-on suitcase full of hastily packed things, hoping they’re not held up at the border.At nearly six hours, “My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile,” which opens in select theaters this weekend, is the second half of Loktev's portrait of Russian journalists and the culmination of a five-year project. It began with Loktev filming a group of independent journalists in Moscow in the fall of 2021 as Vladimir Putin was starting to declare some reporters “foreign agents."Four months later, the situation changed dramatically: Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and many journalists fled the country on only a few hours’ notice. Loktev kept filming, following her subjects as they reported on the war in exile.“People hear, they’re like, ‘Oh my god a six-hour film about journalis