Footage Mailshot - May 21, 2025 (Launching Footage France: A Compassionate Home in Europe đź’™)

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Launching Footage France: A Compassionate Home in Europe đź’™

Dearest Family, Friends, and Supporters,

For over 16 years, Footage has operated with agility, adaptability, and grit—always fueled by compassion.  Last week, a UN Women report revealed that 90% of surveyed women's organizations face financial strain, with nearly half at risk of closure within six months. This crisis makes our mission more urgent than ever. We refuse to be closed down. We stand strong, we adapt, we push forward.

These last months have been hard to capture in words. Those most empathetic among us feel the world’s pain, confusion, and helplessness. But as deeply as we feel, we know this is our call to act. This is not the time to numb or step away. And we are indebted to those of you who have never stepped away from us—who have instead leaned in, listened, shared our anger and heartbreak, and continued to offer your compassion, your courage, your heart.

We are working day and night—building frameworks that adapt to a dramatically changing landscape, bringing to life dreams and ideas we’ve envisioned for over a decade. Our impact is expanding through Footage Lab, an evolving constellation of our feminist research, compassionate technology, and policy innovation—a space where knowledge is co-created, not confined: where our decades of participatory, applied social science research meet real-world impact.

In fact, today we want to share two critical developments that reflect our grit, flexibility, and commitment:

First, we are proud to announce the launch of Footage France, our European base. This is not a new region for us. From our inception, Footage has maintained deep roots across Europe: building partnerships, conducting feminist research, engaging in international diplomacy, and collaborating with civil society organizations.

Although we formally registered as an Association in France in 2024—thanks to the dedicated work of Eléna de Montjou (Footage intern turned consultant) and the pro bono support of compassionate attorneys—we are now proud to publicly announce our official, physical base in France, where members of our team, including myself, can continue to work safely and effectively.

Why France?
France is a global hub for human rights, diplomacy, and gender equity. It is a geographic and strategic bridge across Europe, Eurasia, and the world. Our registration in France reflects both a natural evolution of our regional feminist research and programming and a deep commitment to centering compassion, dignity, and justice in one of the most globally connected countries.

But even more importantly, France provides a space where we can continue our work—and our research—safely: addressing anti-gender and anti-rights pushback, supporting those in exile from authoritarian regimes, and leveraging our expertise in feminist research interventions and transformative change. Our base in France strengthens our ability to deepen long-standing collaborations across Europe and Central Asia, building transnational networks of feminist solidarity.

Through Footage France, we are building and growing in multiple ways:
  • Advancing EU-based feminist research interventions that challenge power and center lived experience.
     
  • Conducting healing-centered fieldwork across Europe, ensuring that communities in crisis are not only heard but understood.
     
  • Forging deeper partnerships with civil society, academia, and grassroots movements to drive systemic change.
     
  • Engaging in localized policy work on Feminist Foreign Policy (FFP), Women, Peace, and Security (WPS), and advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
     
  • Disseminating our methodologies, publications, and impact, ensuring our work reaches those who need it most.

Second, with our steadfast partners at Project Kesher and Project Kesher Ukraine, we are solemnly marking the third anniversary of our flagship program, FemSMS Ukraine. What began during the first days of Russia's horrific full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 as five trauma-informed messages—focused on trafficking, gender-based violence, mental and physical health—has grown into a lifeline.

Over three years, we have:
  • Sent more than 15,000 compassionate messages, reaching over 12,000 women and gender-diverse individuals, across 5+ multimedia platforms.
     
  • Engaged 70+ participants in human-centered design research.
     
  • Hosted 13+ events and conferences, creating spaces for community and healing.
     
  • Launched the development of a mobile application set to release later this year.
     
To mark this anniversary, our team in Ukraine launched "Voices of Resilience," a video series capturing the stories of women in Kyiv and Khmelnytskyi. The series offers profound insights into the emotional and psychological impact of the war and highlights the enduring power of compassion and solidarity.

One woman shared:
“Compassion is when you feel pain for another person... Compassion changed during the war. It became deeper, more painful, sharper.”

As a feminist organization, we know that those most affected in crisis are often those least reached. That’s information poverty. FemSMS is our commitment not only to reach those most impacted but to build together, with compassion.

This commitment is also why we have chosen today to formally launch Footage France—to strengthen our global feminist mission, bridge regions, and create lasting change.

You will hear from us again soon as we begin Pride and Refugee Month in June—a month that matters more than ever for showing up, for solidarity, for standing with. Until then, I am here, day or night. If you would like to speak with me about how you can contribute, please reach out to me personally at kae@footageproject.org.

We are, because of you.

-Footage 
Location: Paris, France

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