Julia Loktev

Julia Loktev (born December 12, 1969) is a Russian–American film director, screenwriter, and video artist.

Early life

Julia Loktev was born in Leningrad, Soviet Union (now St. Petersburg, Russia) in a Jewish family. She immigrated to the United States as a child and lived in Colorado until leaving for college. She moved to Montreal to study English and film at McGill University. She received an M.F.A. from the Graduate Film Program at New York University.

Career In 1998 Loktev directed the documentary Moment of Impact, inspired by her father who was severely injured in an automobile accident. The documentary won the Documentary Directing Award at Sundance Film Festival and the Grand Prize at Cinéma du Réel.

Loktev was resident at Eyebeam in 2005. In 2006, she directed Day Night Day Night, which premiered in the Directors' Fortnight section of the 59th Cannes Film Festival, being recognized with the Prix Regard Jeune. The film was critically acclaimed, winning several film festival competitions and an Independent Spirit Award.

Loktev received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2009. The film competed in several international film festivals, winning the Grand Jury Prize at the AFI Fest in Los Angeles and being nominated at the Film Independent Spirit Awards. In 2015, Richard Brody called her one of the best woman movie directors.

In 2024 Loktev directed the documentary film My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow, being critically acclaimend, winning several accolades, including the Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary.

Filmography

Art installation Rough House, Brooklyn Museum of Art's "Global Feminisms" show (2007)

Awards and nominations Award / Festival Year Category Work Result AFI Festival 2011 Grand Jury Prize The Loneliest Planet Cannes Film Festival 2005 C.I.C.A.E. Award Day Night Day Night SACD Prize Prix Regard Jeune Chicago International Film Festival 1998 Best Documentary Moment of Impact 2006 Fipresci Prize Day Night Day Night Cinéma du Réel 1998 Cinéma du Réel Award Moment of Impact Festival du nouveau cinéma 2006 Feature Film Award Day Night Day Night Film Independent Spirit Awards 1999 Truer Than Fiction Award Moment of Impact 2007 Best First Feature Day Night Day Night Someone to Watch Award 2013 Best Director The Loneliest Planet 2026 Best Documentary Feature My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow Gotham Independent Film Awards 2006 Best Breakthrough Director Day Night Day Night 2011 Best Feature The Loneliest Planet 2025 Best Documentary My Undesirable Friends: Part I — Last Air in Moscow Hamburg Film Festival 2006 Critics Award Day Night Day Night Istanbul Film Festival 2006 Best Film The Loneliest Planet Las Palmas de Gran Canaria International Film Festival 2011 Lady Harimaguada de Oro The Loneliest Planet Locarno Film Festival 2006 Golden Leopard Award The Loneliest Planet San Francisco International Film Festival 1999 Certificate of Merit Moment of Impact Sundance Film Festival 1999 Directing Award — Documentary Moment of Impact