SHAKEDOWN

BY: Amanda Jane Stern

We have all heard of Pornhub. Let’s face it, most of us have probably watched the American pornography site and there’s nothing wrong with that. But right now, we’re not here to talk about porn. No, Pornhub will release its first-ever non-adult movie, the documentary Shakedown. Made by filmmaker and conceptual artist Leilah Weinraub, the documentary follows queer women and men from the Los Angeles underground, black-owned lesbian strip club scene of the early 2000s.

Weinraub spent ten years working on Shakedown, her debut documentary, which was initially an almost 4-hour long project that screened at the Whitney Biennial in 2017. After that, it showed at MoMA PS1 in March 2018. The documentary was also screened at other galleries and film festivals before Weinraub teamed up with Pornhub to release it online. The title Shakedown comes from the strip club featured in the movie. To create the film, Weinraub edited almost 400-hours of video shot at the club starting in 2002.

Weinraub was born in Los Angeles to an African-American mother and Jewish father. She was mentored by and assisted American History X director, Tony Kaye, in the late 90s. In addition to her film work, she was also the CEO of the fashion label Hood By Air. 

Per Variety, the movie streams for free on Pornhub in March before it hits the Criterion Channel and then iTunes in summer 2020.