Lakta is a digital, independent, and participatory media outlet, born in Calais, at the Franco-British border. It is structured as a non-profit association under French law (loi 1901), free from any editorial, political, or commercial pressure.
Our mission is simple: to give back the narrative to those it belongs to.
What we do
We create spaces — physical and editorial — where people in exile can speak freely, at their own pace, on their own terms. We work with video, photography, audio, and text. We do not choose one format over another, because not everyone expresses themselves the same way. Some prefer to remain behind the camera. All of this is valid. All of this has a place at Lakta.
We work alongside people, not about them. Every story published on Lakta belongs first and foremost to the person who lived it. We never publish without consent. We never simplify. We never distort.
Our formats
Video — Testimonies, documentaries, and short films shot at the border, by Mustafa and in collaboration with people in exile.
Photography — Visual reportages that put faces, bodies, and lives back where the news usually puts numbers.
Audio — Recorded voices, ambient sounds, stories told in one's own language. Because a voice carries what a translation sometimes cannot.
Text — Written accounts, investigations, and portraits, in English and French, accessible to as wide an audience as possible.
Our ethics
Every person who speaks with us chooses how, when, and whether their story is shared. Consent is not a formality at Lakta — it is the foundation of everything we do. We are aware of the risks that exposure can carry for people in precarious legal situations, and we take those risks seriously.
We do not sensationalise. We do not reduce a person to their suffering. We believe that dignity and truth are not incompatible — they are, in fact, inseparable.
Where we are going
Lakta is a young project. We are currently launching a crowdfunding campaign to purchase quality equipment — cameras, microphones, editing tools — that will allow us to produce content at the level these stories deserve.
We already have a workspace: a room we are setting up as both an office and a recording studio, where people can come to speak, record, and be heard in a safe and welcoming environment.
But we also want to be part of something bigger.
We are based at the Maison d'Entraide et de Ressources (M.E.R), a solidarity hub that has been at the heart of Calais since 2022. In a city marked by deep social fragility and its position at the Franco-British border, the M.E.R offers a free, open, and unconditional space where local residents, people in exile, associations, artists, and citizens meet. It hosts eight organisations and runs a wide range of activities — French and English classes, legal rights surgeries, a free shop, socio-cultural workshops, concerts, and community events.
It is not just a building. It is one of the few places in Calais where people on all sides of the border live together, without conditions.
The M.E.R is currently transitioning toward a collective and autonomous model, and needs to raise €50,000 to secure its premises at 3 rue de Croy through 2026 — covering rent, utilities, maintenance, and coordination.
Depending on the funds we raise, part of our crowdfunding will go toward supporting the M.E.R — because without spaces like this one, projects like ours cannot exist.
To support the M.E.R directly: maison-entraide-ressources.fr