"It is brilliant, riveting, vital, devastating." – Alissa Wilkinson, New York Times (Critic's Pick)

"A STAGGERING PORTRAIT OF RUSSIAN JOURNALISTS IN DISSENT... Gripping, fiercely moving. An astonishing epic... [An] extraordinarily human cinematic document." – Justin Chang, The New Yorker

Saturday, February 7, 11:00 a.m. & Sunday, February 8, 11:00 a.m. | Soviet-born American filmmaker Julia Loktev (THE LONELIEST PLANET, DAY NIGHT DAY NIGHT) came to Moscow in 2021 to make a film about independent journalists being declared “foreign agents” by Putin’s regime — as it turns out, just four months before Russia started a full-scale war in Ukraine. With her friend Anna Nemzer, a talk show host at TV Rain, Russia’s last remaining independent news channel, Loktev brings us into a community of sharp, warm and funny young women speaking truth to power as they face increasing threats. Loktev filmed in Moscow during the first week of the full-scale invasion, as the journalists tried to counter Russian propaganda and report the truth on the war, until all independent media was shut down and they were forced to flee the country. Structured in five chapters, feeling like a cross between a Russian novel and a reality show about frighteningly real reality, Loktev’s film is an extraordinary historic record of a country on the verge of fascism and an immersive and intimate inside view of the opposition in an authoritarian society, which becomes all the more globally relevant every day. Program includes two intermissions. 

Chapter 1: The Lives of Foreign Agents (81 min)
Chapter 2: The Town Crazies (62 min)
Chapter 3: The Holiday Special (56 min) 
Chapter 4: The Expected Impossible (57 min) 
Chapter 5: Don’t Say War (70 min)

Awards & Nominations

Winner - Gotham Film Awards - Best Documentary Feature
Winner - New York Film Critics Circle -  Best Non-Fiction film
Winner - LA Film Critics Circle -  Best Documentary/Non-Fiction Film

Settle In | January 3–February 8, 2026

Binge watching a television show or catching a double feature? Child’s play. Prove your passion for pacing with five presentations that test the limits of runtimes, lean into their length, and invite you to Settle In. Ticket holders have the option to add a boxed lunch ($16) to their experience courtesy of our friends at Goddess And The Baker (must be ordered at least 72 hours in advance).

The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu