''Shakedown'' is a 2018 American documentary film directed by

Leilah Weinraub Leilah Weinraub (born 1979) is an American filmmaker, conceptual artist, and the former chief executive officer of the fashion brand Hood By Air. In 2018, she was named a Sundance Institute Art of Nonfiction Fellow. Biography Weinraub was born ...

. The film centers around a

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

black-lesbian

strip club A strip club (also known as a strip joint, striptease bar, peeler bar, gentlemen's club, among others) is a venue where strippers provide adult entertainment, predominantly in the form of striptease and other erotic dances including lap dances. St ...

of the same name in its heyday from 2002 to 2004. The film premiered in 2018 and was screened at film festivals throughout North America and Europe. In March 2020 it was released via digital streaming on

Pornhub Pornhub is a Canadian-owned Internet pornography video-sharing website, one of several owned by adult entertainment conglomerate Aylo. , Pornhub is the 16th- most-visited website in the world and the most-visited adult website. The site al ...

as the first non-pornographic film on the website.

Synopsis

The film documents a black lesbian strip club called Shakedown in Los Angeles from 2002 to the time it was shut down by police in 2004. It follows the staff including Ronnie, the club's owner and promoter, and some of the dancers.

Release

The film premiered at the 2018

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

and was later screened at various art institutions and film festivals including the

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the UK ...

, London; ICA, London;

MoMA PS1 MoMA PS1 is a contemporary art institution at 2201 Jackson Avenue in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens in New York City, United States. In addition to its exhibitions, the institution organizes the Sunday Sessions performance series, th ...

, New York; Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva;

True/False Film Festival True/False Film Fest is an annual documentary film festival that takes place in Columbia, Missouri. The Fest occurs on the first weekend in March (sometimes beginning in late February), with films being shown from Thursday evening to Sunday nigh ...

, Missouri;

Sheffield Doc/Fest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest; abbr.Sheffield International Documentary Festival or SIDF) is an international documentary Film festival, festival and industry marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The festiv ...

, England;

Images Festival The Images Festival is a yearly event devoted to independent and experimental film, video art, new media and media installation that takes place each spring in Toronto. History The Images festival was founded in 1987, originally conceived a ...

, Toronto;

Frameline Film Festival The Frameline Film Festival (also known as San Francisco International LGBTQ+ Film Festival and formerly known as San Francisco International LGBT Film Festival; San Francisco International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival) is an annual event that ...

, San Francisco and

Gavin Brown's Enterprise Gavin Brown's enterprise was an art gallery with venues in New York City and Rome owned by Gavin Brown between 1994 and 2020. In 2020, it merged with Gladstone Gallery. History Broome Street The gallery was established by Gavin Brown in 1994 on ...

, New York. A shorter version was screened as part of the 2017

Whitney Biennial The Whitney Biennial is a biennial exhibition of contemporary American art organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City. The event began as an annual exhibition in 1932; the first biennial was held in 1973. It is considered ...

. In March 2020 it was released by the pornographic website Pornhub as "the first ever non-adult film" available on the site. It will be available on Pornhub throughout the month of March 2020 only. Starting in May 2020, Shakedown started streaming on the Criterion Channel as part of its “Tell Me: Women’s Stories, Women Filmmakers” series.

Production

Weinraub began shooting the film in 2002 when she was 23 years old. She was initially brought to the club by a friend and was so amazed by it that she asked for a job there, eventually being hired as a photographer and videographer. She shot over 400 hours of footage. The film shows the strip club's heyday, between 2002 and 2004 when the club's main venue was shut down by Los Angeles police who cracked down on nude performers in the city.

Reception

Devon Yarbrough of '' Vox'' magazine called it "an honest, multi-faceted film about freedom, strife and human connection" and noted that while the film contains funny moments it maintains a serious tone. Steve Erickson of ''

Gay City News ''Gay City News'' (stylized as ''gcn'') is a free weekly LGBT newspaper based in New York City focusing on local and national issues relating to LGBT community. It was founded in 1994 as ''Lesbian Gay New York'', later ''LGNY'', and was sold ...

'' compared the film to '' Paris is Burning'' and

Derek Jarman Michael Derek Elworthy Jarman (31 January 1942 – 19 February 1994) was an English artist, film maker, costume designer, stage designer, writer, poet, gardener, and gay rights activist. Biography Jarman was born at the Royal Victoria Nursing ...

's ''Will You Dance with Me?''

References

External links

* {{IMDb title, tt1794951 2018 films LGBTQ African-American culture Lesbian culture in California Lesbian-related mass media in the United States Films set in Los Angeles Lesbian-related films Films about striptease African-American LGBTQ-related films 2010s American films American LGBTQ-related documentary films 2018 LGBTQ-related films