Venice documentary follows Russian journalists in exile, a story Sardinia knows

At the Venice Film Festival, filmmaker Julia Loktev is moving audiences with 'My Undesirable Friends,' a documentary about Russian journalists forced to flee their country abruptly but who continue to inform their fellow citizens about the war in Ukraine despite precarious conditions and ongoing intimidation, as Le Monde reported on Sunday.

The film, the second part of Loktev's documentary project, immerses viewers in the lives of reporters now working in exile, separated from their homeland and often from their families, yet determined to keep reporting.

The theme of exile and displacement resonates far beyond the festival circuit, touching on questions of identity, language and belonging that are familiar to many European regions with strong emigration histories.

According to Le Monde's review from Venice, Loktev's film shows journalists who 'continue to inform their fellow citizens about the war in Ukraine in spite of the precarious conditions and ongoing intimidation.' The documentary captures the psychological toll of exile: the constant fear, the difficulty of building a new life, and the stubborn commitment to a profession that has become dangerous.

For Sardinia, a region that has sent generations of its children abroad, the theme of exile is not abstract. The island's diaspora is scattered across mainland Italy, northern Europe and the Americas, and the Sardinian language is kept alive as much in Turin and Brussels as in the villages of the interior. The experience of maintaining a cultural identity while living far from home is woven into the island's modern history.

The Venice Film Festival has long served as a window onto global stories, and this year's edition is no exception. Loktev's film joins a lineup that includes works addressing displacement, political repression and the fragility of democratic institutions.

The connection between the journalists' plight and Sardinia's own story is not direct, but the emotional register is familiar: the pain of separation, the effort to stay connected to one's roots, and the determination to bear witness. These are themes that resonate on an island where the phrase 'partire' — to leave — carries a weight of its own.

Loktev's documentary is part of a broader cinematic conversation at Venice this year about exile and resistance. For Sardinian audiences, it offers a reminder that the experience of leaving home, while deeply personal, is also a shared European condition.