Shoga Films

Shoga Films Shoga Films is the production company of Robert Philipson. Vimeo Link: http://vimeo.com/user6835725

Shoga is a Swahili word with a special meaning for g**s and women along the East African Coast. Shoga Films specializes in gay and le***an audio visual media.

We got the greenlight.Because of you, "Bessie Shows Her Ass" *will* move into production. Every dollar you contributed, ...
12/08/2025

We got the greenlight.

Because of you, "Bessie Shows Her Ass" *will* move into production. Every dollar you contributed, every share, every comment, every late-night text to a friend about this campaign helped push us over the line.

Thank you to everyone who donated, boosted, and believed in this film before a single frame was shot. You did not just back a project—you invested in a vision of Black q***r history that refuses to be quiet, sanitized, or forgotten.

But it's not over. We're still $9,200 short of being fully funded. Yes, we'll get the pledges that we worked so hard to take in, but there's a reason we chose to go for $50,000. That covers our bottom line production costs, and we don't want to starve our stripling child. We have four days left to gather as much of the full funding as we can, so we carry on. Those who pledge from here on in know that their money is going into a real project.

As we move into production, we will carry your support with us on every set, every rehearsal, every day we fight to honor Bessie Smith with the depth and power she deserves.

Stay tuned for updates, behind-the-scenes moments, and new ways to stay connected as "Bessie Shows Her Ass" comes to life.

***rHistory ***rCinema

12/07/2025

Musician Khalil Sullivan crafted and performed his unique version of Bessie’s debut single, the iconic Downhearted Blues, for Columbia Records. The record sold 780,000 sides in its first six months and helped kick off the blues craze that dominated much of music sold to African-Americans during the 1920s. As we approach the final stretch of our crowdfunding campaign, take a moment to enjoy this soulful Sunday offering. With just five days left, your support can bring the story of this remarkable singer to life. We're grateful for Khalil's contributions to Shoga Films and wish him deserved success in his music career.

12/07/2025

Musician Khalil Sullivan, formerly of Shoga Films, arranged and performed this version of Downhearted Blues, Bessie’s debut single and massive hit for her and Columbia Records, selling 780,000 copies in six months. Enjoy our Sunday treat before our crowdfunding campaign’s final stretch! Only five days left, so give generously and help bring Bessie’s story to life!

Three days left.We are so close to bringing Bessie Shows Her Ass to life, but we cannot cross the finish line without yo...
12/04/2025

Three days left.

We are so close to bringing Bessie Shows Her Ass to life, but we cannot cross the finish line without you. This film is our chance to honor Bessie Smith as she truly was: bold, Black, q***r, complicated, and unapologetically herself.

Your support today helps fund production, costumes, music, and the kind of cinematic storytelling that does not ask permission from Hollywood to exist. If you have been watching this campaign from the sidelines, now is the time to step in.

Give what you can, share the link in our linktree, and help us push Bessie Shows Her Ass over the top.

***rHistory ***rCinema

12/03/2025

Sampson McCormick on the Q***r Harlem Renaissance

Comedian Sampson McCormick talks about his discovery of the Q***r Harlem Renaissance and the profound effect it had on him. “It was like a revelation to me. It was liberating; it was empowering … but it also made me realize I wasn't special no more.”

The Q***r Harlem Renaissance is much more recognized these days, but there are still historical nooks and crannies that remain to be discovered as precursors and signposts from the past. “Bessie Shows Her Ass” is the third section in our “Tales of the Q***r Harlem Renaissance” trilogy, and it goes deep into issues of class, race and representation not only of that time but the continuance of these themes into the present.

There are only four days left to this crowdfunding campaign. Donate to our Seed and Spark project and help us get across the finish line. There’s $35,000 laying on the table, and it would be heartbreaking to let it go.

Follow the link to our campaign page and PLEDGE! Future generations will thank you for it.

***rHarlemRenaissance ***rArt ***rVoices

Bessie Smith was never meant to live in the shadows of history books or grainy black-and-white photos. She was loud, rau...
12/02/2025

Bessie Smith was never meant to live in the shadows of history books or grainy black-and-white photos. She was loud, raucous, sensual, q***r, and the highest-paid Black artist of her time.

With Bessie Shows Her Ass, Shoga Films is reclaiming her story on our own terms—through a Black, q***r, independent lens that refuses to sanitize her power or her complexity. This new image is not just a redesign. It is a reminder that Bessie’s legacy still lives in the voices, bodies, and stages of today.

On Giving Tuesday, your support helps us move this film from vision to reality—funding production, music, costumes, and the kind of storytelling Hollywood rarely makes space for. If you believe Bessie deserves more than a footnote, help us give her the spotlight she has always deserved.

Support Bessie Shows Her Ass this Giving Tuesday. Donate through the link in our bio and share this post with someone who loves the blues, Black history, or bold Black women who refused to shrink.
***rHistory ***rCinema

Five days left and we are officially 64 percent funded with $32,119 raised. Thank you to every single person who has don...
12/01/2025

Five days left and we are officially 64 percent funded with $32,119 raised. Thank you to every single person who has donated, shared, or supported this campaign. Your belief in this film is pushing us forward in a powerful way.

Here is the exciting part: once we hit $40,000, Seed & Spark will officially greenlight Bessie Shows Her Ass. That means our production is guaranteed and we can move ahead with full momentum.

If you have not made your contribution yet, now is the moment. And if you have already given, sharing the campaign is one of the most impactful actions you can take.

Let’s cross that $40,000 mark together.

***rCinema

11/30/2025

The Origins of “Smoke, Lilies and Jade”

“Smoke, Lilies and Jade,” the second piece of our Q***r Harlem Renaissance trilogy, is an adaptation of a prose poem of the same name by the q***r writer Richard Bruce Nugent. Published 100 years ago, the story was the first positive depiction of same-sex desire in American letters.

This wasn’t much known or commented on at the time because the arts journal in which it was published, Fire!!, saw one issue and then disappeared. It was unearthed with the recuperation of pre-Stonewall gay literature in the 1990s and has since been anointed a masterpiece.

The fact that this landmark of q***r writing emerged directly from the Harlem Renaissance is still not widely appreciated, either in the Black or the q***r community. But of course, the concept of the Q***r Harlem Renaissance is just coming into its own now.

To find out more about this remarkable piece, follow the links to our blog posts, “The Early Death of ‘Smoke, Lilies and Jade’” and “The Unlikely Resurrection of ‘Smoke, Lilies and Jade.”
***rHarlemRenaissance ***rLiterature ***rHistory ***rArt

11/29/2025

The Music of “Smoke, Lilies and Jade”

“Smoke, Lilies and Jade,” the second part of our “Tales of the Q***r Harlem Renaissance” trilogy, is an adaptation of the 1926 story of the same name by Richard Bruce Nugent. Each segment of the “Tales” features a piece of music, and “Smoke, Lilies and Jade” is no different.

The song featured in both the story and the film is based on Langston Hughes's poem “Fire,” published in his first volume, “The Weary Blues.” Musician and choir master Hall Johnson set the modified poem to music as a modern spiritual, and it has been performed as an art song ever since.

Gospel singer and choir arranger Rusty Watson highlights the soaring gospel note that ignites the protagonist of the film into a semi-public display of his passion – observed by his girlfriend. From there, things go as you imagine they might.

To find out more about “Fi-Yer” and its history, follow the linktree to our related blog posts: “The Evolution of ‘Fi-Yer,’ Part One” and “The Evolution of ‘Fi-Yer,’ Part Two.”

***rHarlemRenaissance

Anonymous donor provides matching funds for final push of crowdfunding campaignYaasss! We at Shoga really have something...
11/27/2025

Anonymous donor provides matching funds for final push of crowdfunding campaign

Yaasss! We at Shoga really have something to be thankful for. A donor of indeterminate age, gender, sexual orientation, and hidden agenda has provided $3000 in matching funds until that sum is collected through new pledges from this day forward.

What does that mean? It means that every dollar you give up is matched by another dollar going into the pockets of the Board of Directors. (JOKE!)

Seriously, folks! We’ve got 12 days to collect another $18,000 in pledges and loans. Sounds daunting? Now it’s $3,000 less daunting and up to $6,000 less daunting if we get the full value of the promised pledges. In other words, we now have to collect $12,000 to get the production of “‘Bessie Shows Her Ass” 100% funded.

That’s $1000 a day from today until December 6 when the campaign ends. This sounds impossible only to those who haven’t yet experienced the productive panic of last-minute, last chance giving! We’ve worked so hard! We’ve done far better than the Little Engine That Could. And yet the outcome is still in doubt … and still in your hands. Follow the linktree to our Seed&Spark crowdfunding website and give like there’s no tomorrow. Because you know what? After December 6, there *is* no tomorrow.

We can’t let that happen.

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