footnotes.¹

This year, Footage—along with countless other feminist organizations—faces unprecedented financial hardship. One third of global groups working against gender-based violence have had to shut down or pause their work following drastic funding cuts, according to UN Women .​ This year, Footage has faced the most significant contraction in nearly 20 years. Primary grant support from the U.S. Department of State was implicated in international cuts, and many philanthropies and funders have paused or reduced giving as their own resources were reduced. Like so many feminist and women-led organizations, we have felt the impact at the very core of our work: in how we staff, what we can plan, and the emotional and practical labor required just to keep the doors open. This has meant putting some of our essential work on hold at the very moment communities are asking for and needing more.​ Yet the urgency of what people are living through has not lessened. In the places where we are present, women...

“... violence towards women will never stop if we keep silence.” F., GTG Kazakhstan, 2022 Today is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, and the beginning of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence . Since 1991, this global campaign has reminded us that when communities stand together, violence can no longer hide in silence or isolation. Around the world — including in the places many of us call home — women, girls, LGBTQIA+ people, and people living through conflict and displacement face escalating violence and dehumanizing rhetoric. Too often this is framed as something that happens “over there,” yet it is present “here” as well, shaping fear, anxiety, and normalizing the idea that some lives are treated as less worthy of protection. At Footage, these 16 Days matter because community matters. Survivors who take part in Footage’s interventions often tell us they long not only for safety, but for belonging: to be believed, to be witnessed, a...

As we mark International Day of the Girl on 11th October, I want to begin with a deep and wholehearted thank you. To all of you who have written, given, and stood beside us — we see you. It has been a full season of rebuilding, and your care — financial, pro bono, and human — has carried us through. We are utterly indebted. This year’s Day of the Girl theme is: “The Girl I Am, the Change I Lead: Girls on the Frontlines of Crisis,” and our hearts and minds turn to those born into war, displacement, and poverty—the ones most at risk of gender-based violence and trafficking. Despite hopes for peace and justice, the lived realities of girls in Gaza, Ukraine, Sudan, Afghanistan, and so many other geographies in crisis remain marked by conflict and loss. And yet, as all of you who have been with us for years know, amid fear and uncertainty, we consistently witness extraordinary strength. At Footage, every day, we meet young women inside crisis zones and escaping war and conflict who refuse ...

Despite intense challenges, we continue in motion—physically: between cities, marches, campaigns, interventions; emotionally: between grief, heartbreak, hope—always hope. We know we cannot pause.  There must be consistent, unwavering solidarity for those whose rights are being violated, whose lives are being destroyed by the violence we are witnessing. There must be ceaseless action as silencing is normalized. We refuse to stop. I personally refuse to numb. Every single day, I wake up with the same goal: to find the emotional and practical resources to carry this work forward—even when the world doesn’t make space for it. I have found that I can only keep going by staying compassionately present—to what is here, right now. What can I do in this moment? Who can I reach with compassion? Who can I love better?  September holds much---including global gatherings where we will not only advocate for an end to violence, authoritarianism, racism, sexism, homophobia, but where we hope...

Dear Friends, Family, and Supporters, We’re still here: marching, building, imagining. In this crushing moment, when so many are silenced, displaced, starved, erased, we are refusing to look away. In fact, we are choosing, daily, to show up: in our bodies, our work, our words, our communities.  We are choosing to make noise for those being silenced; to offer love where it feels like hate is winning; to hold hope in chaos.  As feminists, researchers, humanitarians, artists – as humans, we know that compassion is not soft, but rather it is fierce, active, constituted of response-ability. It is, as we say in all of our workshops,  empathy plus action .  And we truly believe it will save us. Today, we want to share updates:  Despite the loss of the majority of our funding, we continue to operate on the frontlines of crises .  Our FemSMS Ukraine work , with our dear friends and partners at  Project Kesher ,  continues to grow . As part of this tireless...