Newsletter • November 2025

Photo still: Wildly Authentic at Hypnos Theatre, Malmö, Sweden 2025 European Premiere

The Life Vest is Under your Seat

When Hurricane Melissa hit, my cousin in Jamaica messaged from her flooded basement apartment. She had run away from home years ago for being a lesbian. I thought of the Gully Queens in Kingston, the queer and trans women who also ran away and live in the storm drains. Then I thought of our members who recently sought refuge and called in from their camp during our European Premiere. One of our members in Tanzania was completely cut off from the internet because of local elections. Around the world, queer people continue to face unimaginable struggle in Sudan, Gaza, Ukraine and beyond.

When disaster strikes, it is always the same people who have nowhere to go: the poor, the women, the children, the disabled, the Black and Brown folks, the migrants, the queer and trans people. In these precarious times, communication itself becomes a tool of survival. This is where our work begins.

Phoenix Collective Vision

75 SHOTS was born out of empathy, compassion and a deep love for art, people and freedom. During COVID, when isolation had wrapped around us like a fog, our collective became a lifeline. Members were being evicted, stranded in foreign countries, struggling to breathe, literally and financially. Together we built new narratives of survival and connection across borders. Our films, made with smartphones and sheer willpower, became mirrors where our members could see themselves reflected and imagine a better world.

Autumn Leaves in Winter

Since then, we have grown through endurance and imagination. Our website is now fully bilingual, extending our reach across the Francophonie and the Global South. Every new connection feels like a leaf that refused to fall. We have received new support from the Government of Canada for our Summer Youth Intern and Senior’s Program, and from the Foundation for Black Communities. These project-based grants have deepened our mentorship and strengthened our roots. Yet, like many grassroots collectives, our core remains unfunded. Our work continues through love, commitment, and the strength of our members who volunteer their time and skills.To sustain what we’ve built, we now invite our community to help us grow into the next season, to move from survival to stability.

Stand in Love

We tell stories of love in places where love is forbidden. We claim intimacy and connection as acts of resistance. Our films are living documents, grounded in community and shaped by necessity, imagination, and desire. Our members continue to create, teach, and evolve. The Under the Radar series transforms ordinary spaces into luminous stages for visibility and reflection.These spaces form a continuum of care and radical creativity.

Who's Next in Line

In the coming weeks, we will begin highlighting one film from our collection, offering a glimpse into our living archive through online screenings and conversations between filmmakers and our audience. Our goal is to reach 1,000 paying subscribers by the end of the year. Be among the first to discover rare, underrepresented queer cinema from the Global South and other regions where queer voices are silenced. Join the conversation of resistance, beauty and defiance, where art, activism and community meet.

With your help, we are stronger

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One Love

Karin Hazé

75 SHOTS Founder