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In 1992, Aishah Shahidah Simmons created AfroLez® Productions, an Afrolesfemcentric[1] multimedia arts company committed to projecting holistic images of women of African descent, specifically lesbians and bisexual women. AfroLez® Productions is based in Philadelphia, PA, and has a network of associates across the United States, in Oaxaca, Mexico, London and Birmingham, England, Paris France, Capetown and Johannesburg, South Africa. This network has assisted in raising funds for AfroLez® Productions by sponsoring speaking and screening engagements of the works produced by the company. Through the spoken and written word, and the moving image, the work of AfroLez® Productions makes visible that which has been invisible for too long – Black women, regardless of sexual orientation, loving and defending each other. To date, the primary projects of the company are NO! which includes the entire productions of the feature length experimental documentary on intra-racial rape and sexual violence in the Black community. There will be a companion book to NO!, and it will take an in-depth look at the making of the documentary, as well as poetry, testimonies, photographs, and essays, primarily to Black women survivors, artists and/or activists on ending sexual violence in the Black community.

Secondary projects of the company include distributing In My Father’s House © 1996 and Silence…Broken © 1993 to film festivals, colleges, universities, and conferences. To date, these acclaimed videos have been featured in several international film/art festivals, including London, Budapest, Soweto, Paris, Berlin, Toronto, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Philadelphia.

Tertiary projects of AfroLez® Productions include curating/programming films and videos by and by emerging and established Black women directors and producers. Other projects of the company include writing articles and essays on issues that are pertinent to the Black, Women’s, and/or Lesbian/Bisexual/Gay communities. These writings have been published in The Philadelphia Tribune, The Philadelphia Gay News, Women In The Life, Sojourner: The Women’s Forum, Just Sex: Students Rewrite the Rules on Sex, Violence, Activism and Equality.

[1] Created in 1990 by Aishah Shahidah Simmons, this word defines the culturally conscious role of Black women who identify as Afrocentric, lesbian, and feminist.