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 love dogs.But for National Dog Month, let’s tell a wilder truth.Josephine Baker didn’t trot out a terrier—she strutte...
11/08/2025

We love dogs.
But for National Dog Month, let’s tell a wilder truth.

Josephine Baker didn’t trot out a terrier—she strutted onstage with a cheetah named Chiquita, diamond collar flashing, sometimes vaulting into the orchestra pit. Spectacle? Absolutely. But also strategy. Baker—dancer, actress, French Resistance agent, civil-rights force—weaponized attention and turned a gaze that tried to diminish her into a crown.

So when the timeline jokes about her “tiger,” remember the facts—and the stakes. Baker built a life beyond caricature: housing a menagerie at Les Milandes, adopting her Rainbow Tribe, raising her voice from Paris to Washington. The cheetah wasn’t a punchline; it was part of a larger authorship of self.

If this reframed your feed:
• Comment “Cheetah, not dog.”
• Save this for your next caption.
• Share to give Josephine her full due.

Follow Shoga Films for art histories that travel.

✨ The genius of Gertrude Stein wasn’t just in her words — it was in the world she built.In her Paris salon, the air was ...
08/08/2025

✨ The genius of Gertrude Stein wasn’t just in her words — it was in the world she built.

In her Paris salon, the air was thick with art, argument, and ideas… and at the center, always, was Basket.

Basket wasn’t just a witness to the birth of modernism — he was proof that love and loyalty shape great art as much as intellect does.

🐾 This National Dog Month, let’s honor the dogs who shape our own stories. Post your favorite photo, tag us, and use so we can share your furry muse.

The August newsletter drops“Shoga Goes to the Dogs” – literally – because August is National Dog Month. The blog examine...
06/08/2025

The August newsletter drops

“Shoga Goes to the Dogs” – literally – because August is National Dog Month. The blog examines the *real* story behind Elvis’ smash 1956 hit, “Hound Dog,” and finds Blacks and Jews at the bottom of it. First Person and the scheduled Shoga Speaks podcast share the same subject – the family dog. As the narrator sadly confesses, the family dog can say a lot about the family. “In our case, the family dog was a basset, a female basset, a female basset named Hamlet.”

On we go to demonstrate just how bankrupt the American popular song had become in the 50s with Patti Page’s treacly hit (8 weeks at #1 on the 1953 pop chart) “(How Much Is) That Doggie in the Window?” And we announce the subject matter of many of our August social media posts – qu**rs and their dogs.

It’s National Dog Month—and at Shoga Films, we’re celebrating the loyal companions who’ve walked beside some of our bold...
04/08/2025

It’s National Dog Month—and at Shoga Films, we’re celebrating the loyal companions who’ve walked beside some of our boldest storytellers.

This month, we’re digging into something special:
the untold stories of q***r and Jewish artists and the pets who offered them comfort, courage, and unconditional love.

From typewriters to chew toys, protest marches to park walks—these animals weren’t just pets. They were muses. They were family.

Follow along as we honor the paws behind the poetry, the bark behind the brilliance.

“I am at peace, among people who are not shocked by brown skin or desire between men.” — Claude McKay, 1933Before James ...
30/07/2025

“I am at peace, among people who are not shocked by brown skin or desire between men.” — Claude McKay, 1933

Before James Baldwin. Before Josephine Baker. Claude McKay—a Harlem Renaissance icon, Black radical, and q***r poet—found refuge in Morocco, far from America’s racism and q***rphobia.

In Tangier, he didn’t just survive. He watched, wrote, and breathed freely.

This is the side of Black q***r history they rarely teach.

Follow Shoga Films for untold stories that cross borders, genres, and expectations.

28/07/2025

This summer, everyone’s talking about Superman—
But we’ve got our own kind of super.

Super poetic.
Super sexual.
Super unapologetically q***r.

Our reel redefines strength with tenderness, brilliance, and radical intimacy—
rooted in desire, depth, and defiance.

Watch. Feel. Share.
Because sometimes, power doesn’t wear a cape—it wears truth.

Before Paris knew Josephine or Ellington, it knew Bricktop.Ada “Bricktop” Smith lit up the Paris Jazz Age—not just as a ...
25/07/2025

Before Paris knew Josephine or Ellington, it knew Bricktop.

Ada “Bricktop” Smith lit up the Paris Jazz Age—not just as a performer, but as a tastemaker, club owner, and cultural force. With red hair, quick wit, and unmatched presence, she turned her nightclub Chez Bricktop into the place to be—where the world’s most famous artists, expats, and royals came to feel the beat of Black American brilliance.

She gave Maya Angelou her start. She hosted Langston Hughes. She made jazz history her own.

From Harlem to Montmartre, Bricktop didn’t just break barriers—she threw the doors open and poured a drink.

Follow us to celebrate more trailblazing artists who shaped the world from the shadows of empire.

Beauford Delaney didn’t just move to Paris—he stepped into the light.A Harlem Renaissance painter who captured the spiri...
23/07/2025

Beauford Delaney didn’t just move to Paris—he stepped into the light.

A Harlem Renaissance painter who captured the spirit of Black icons like James Baldwin and W.E.B. Du Bois, Delaney left America in search of artistic freedom, q***r liberation, and a life untouched by the violence of racism.

In Paris, everything changed. His palette brightened. His brushwork became bold, abstract, transcendent. His home became a sanctuary for a generation of Black creatives in exile.

Though his life ended in hardship, his legacy glows with color, vision, and truth.

Follow us as we continue spotlighting Black artists who found liberation, brilliance, and belonging in France.

21/07/2025

July 21 is Zero HIV Stigma Day, dedicated to combating the opprobrium that still accompanies a diagnosis of HIV/AIDS. That stigma delayed the mobilization for effective treatment when the epidemic first appeared in the early 80s. Dr. Philipson lived through that awful and frightening decade, remaining (miraculously) uninfected.

You might think that being HIV negative during those awful years felt like a deliverance, but you'd be wrong. "HIV Negative" portrays the terrible toll the disease took on all of us through the lens of a prequel to our short, "The Knowing." It covers the span of time from the early 80s, the honeymoon of Adam and Peter in first love and ignorance of the disaster that was about to befall, to the end of the decade, which saw the dissolution of their relationship, the descent of catastrophe on their community, and their differing responses.

And yet, it is not a tale of unrelieved darkness. The bond between the two ex-lovers remains.

Listen to “HIV Negative,” performed by Sandford Ga***rd, on your favorite podcast platform or follow the link to its Buzzsprout home.

What happens when a Black poet leaves America in search of artistic freedom?In 1928, Countee Cullen—one of the most bril...
18/07/2025

What happens when a Black poet leaves America in search of artistic freedom?

In 1928, Countee Cullen—one of the most brilliant voices of the Harlem Renaissance—left the United States to study at the University of Paris. What he found wasn’t just education; it was liberation.

Far from the racial confines of early 20th-century America, Cullen immersed himself in literature, language, and the radical clarity of distance. In Paris, he wrote boldly, imagined freely, and deepened his reflections on Black identity, q***rness, and intellectual independence.

When he returned to New York in 1930, he was forever changed—his poetry carrying the fingerprints of a new world that had once embraced him fully.

✨ This month, we’re spotlighting artists who left the States for creative freedom in France.

Follow us to learn more about the journeys of Black artists who crossed oceans to reclaim their voices.

What happens when a young Black woman leaves America for freedom—and finds superstardom instead?Josephine Baker didn’t j...
16/07/2025

What happens when a young Black woman leaves America for freedom—and finds superstardom instead?

Josephine Baker didn’t just break barriers. She danced right through them.

Ignored in the U.S. but celebrated in France, her journey from vaudeville stages to global icon is more than entertainment history—it’s a masterclass in power, perseverance, and performance.

At Shoga Films, we honor the legends who turned exile into excellence.

Follow us this month as we spotlight more Black artists who found freedom—and fame—by crossing borders.

Because art knows no boundaries.

The storming of the Bastille wasn't just history—it was a signal to the world that people have the power to change every...
14/07/2025

The storming of the Bastille wasn't just history—it was a signal to the world that people have the power to change everything.

At Shoga Films, we believe in freedom, art, and the fire that lives in every act of resistance. Bastille Day reminds us that revolutions begin with stories—stories that ignite change.

Follow us for more bold, creative, and culture-shifting stories inspired by the spirit of the people.

Because when the people move, history follows.

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