Pornhub is releasing its first ever non-adult film on Wednesday.
Titled Shakedown, the movie is directed by artist Leilah Weinraub and originates from the upper echelons of the art world, where the project has been seen in exhibits at the Whitney Museum and MoMA over the last three years; as well the 2017 Whitney Biennial, the 68th Berlin International Film Festival and Tate Modern.
Shakedown is described as “Capturing the early-aughts underground Los Angeles Black lesbian owned and operated strip club from which the film gets its name, ‘Shakedown’ chronicles the personal and professional relationships of the club’s female performers, the Shakedown Angels. Weinraub maps out an all cash economy run by Black Women rarely seen on screen. She follows the party’s dancers and organizers, among them: Ronnie-Ron, Shakedown Productions’ creator and emcee; Mahogany, the legendary mother of the scene; Egypt, Shakedown’s star dancer; and Jazmine, the Queen of Shakedown. Weinraub herself emerges as a participant, rejecting the pose of “neutral onlooker” in favor of the intimate gaze of a collaborator and confidante.”
This “stream-of-consciousness, nonfiction narrative about the queer women and men who populated the lesbian strip club scene in Los Angeles in the early aughts. It is culled from neatly 15 years of footage shot by Weinraub over her adult life, and offers a humorous, sensual and informative look at a vibrant subculture.”
In the world of Shakedown, gay women of color in South Los Angeles converge in a world informed and nurtured by ballroom drag and cisgender exotic dancers. The dreamy footage presents their stories, without a conventional arc seen in most modern docs.
In Pornhub’s goal to respectfully reach women, the site has built an online home for the project, users and the movie’s director can be “alone, together.” A chat window will be open for discussion, and Weinraub will drop in once a week to have conversations with users.
Shakedown will stream on Pornhub for free for the entire month of March before hitting broadcast on the Criterion Channel, and, finally, the iTunes store by summer.
