Outside the Box [Office] and MUBI invite you and a guest to attend

A Special Advance Screening of

MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS:
PART II - EXILE, Chapters 1-3

Official Selection: 2026 Venice International Film Festival

Directed, Produced, and Shot by Julia Loktev
Co-Directed by Anna Nemzer
Edited by Julia Loktev and Michael Taylor, ACE

Followed by a Q&A with Julia Loktev
Moderated by SCA Vice Dean, Dr. Michael Renov

12:00 P.M. on Monday, October 19th, 2026

The Michelle & Kevin Douglas IMAX Theater, RZC 119
@ The Robert Zemeckis Center for Digital Arts (RZC)
3131 S. Figueroa Street, Los Angeles, CA 90007

FREE ADMISSION. OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. RSVPs REQUIRED.
RSVPs ARE NON-TRANSFERABLE.

FOOD AND DRINKS ARE STRICTLY PROHIBITED IN THE AUDITORIUM.

CLICK HERE TO RSVP

About My Undesirable Friends: Part II - Exile

A group of young journalists flee Moscow when Russia invades Ukraine and shuts down all independent media, turning telling the truth into a crime. Just days before, they were working as part of a vibrant opposition community. Now they’re part of a historic exodus. They leave with a few hours’ notice, carry-on suitcases, and no idea what country they can go to next that will let them stay and keep working. They must quickly get back on their feet to report on the biggest story of their lives, a war they all fiercely oppose. Intimate and immersive, the film sweeps across four years and a dozen countries. The complex, razor sharp and often very funny women — and a few men — gather in apartments that feel like waystations and borrowed offices before being uprooted yet again. They work to bring Russians an alternative to propaganda, speaking out against their country’s war crimes and wrestling with personal moral accountability, even as Russia menaces them with criminal prosecution back home and physical threats abroad. Relying on dark humor to get through dark times, they keep working for the uncertain future of a country they may not return to for decades. As the years pass in exile, they have to redefine what work, family, friendship, love and home mean when you can’t go home.

MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART II — EXILE 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.

Provided courtesy of MUBI. Rated R. Chapters 1-3 Running time: 191 minutes. In Russian, with English subtitles.

About the Guest

JULIA LOKTEV (Director, Producer, Cinematographer, Editor)

Born in St. Petersburg, Julia Loktev emigrated from the Soviet Union to the U.S. at age nine. She has made both fiction and documentary features. Prior to the award-winning MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS: PART I — LAST AIR IN MOSCOW, which premiered at the New York Film Festival, followed by Berlinale and won numerous awards, she made THE LONELIEST PLANET starring Gael Garcia Bernal, which premiered at Locarno, screened at the New York Film Festival, received the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Film Festival and nominations for Best Director at Independent Spirit Awards, and Best Feature at Gotham Awards, and was chosen by Indiewire as one of the “100 Best Films of Last Decade.” Her fiction debut DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT premiered at Cannes in Directors' Fortnight, received two Gotham Awards nominations, and earned the Someone to Watch Award at Independent Spirit Awards. MOMENT OF IMPACT, her only documentary prior to MY UNDESIRABLE FRIENDS, won the Sundance Film Festival Documentary Directing Award and the Grand Prize at Cinéma du Reél, screened in New Directors/New Films at MoMA, and was an Independent Spirit Awards Truer Than Fiction nominee. Julia is a recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship and an Emerging Icons Award from the George Eastman Museum.

About Outside the Box [Office]

Outside the Box [Office] is a weekly showcase for upcoming releases highlighting world cinema, documentary and independent film titles. The series draws from around the globe to present movies that may challenge, inspire or simply entertain.

To view the calendar of screenings, click here

To SUBSCRIBE to our MAILING LIST for upcoming free screenings and events, e-mail the word "Subscribe" to: aago@cinema.usc.edu

Check-In & Reservations

The USC School of Cinematic Arts operates all of its programs and activities consistent with the University’s Notice of Non-Discrimination. Eligibility is not determined based on race, sex, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or any other prohibited factor.

This screening is free of charge and open to the public. A reservation confirmation will automatically be sent to your e-mail account upon successfully making an RSVP through this website. Doors will open at 11:30 A.M.

All SCA screenings are OVERBOOKED to ensure seating capacity in the theater, therefore seating is not guaranteed based on RSVPs. The RSVP list will be checked in on a first-come, first-served basis until the theater is full. Once the theater has reached capacity, we will no longer be able to admit guests, regardless of RSVP status.

Accessibility Needs

Individuals with disabilities who need accommodations to attend this event may contact Alessandro Ago, Assistant Dean, Programming and Special Events, at aago@cinema.usc.edu or 213-740-2330. It is requested that individuals requiring accommodations or auxiliary aids such as sign language interpreters and alternative format materials notify us at least seven days prior to the event. Every reasonable effort will be made to provide reasonable accommodations in an effective and timely manner.

Parking

NO STUDENT, STAFF, FACULTY OR THEATER PARKING IS AVAILABLE AT THE ROBERT ZEMECKIS CENTER.

We recommend Parking in the USC Shrine Parking Structure, located 686 W 32nd St. Parking passes may be purchased at the gate. Metered street parking is also available along 32nd street.

The USC Robert Zemeckis Center is located at 3131 South Figueroa St., Los Angeles, CA 90007, one block north of Parking Structure D, on the North side of the Shrine Auditorium. The RZC entrance is located at the rear of the building, behind the red fence on 32nd St.