
It’s March 2020, and discounted Pornhub Premium has, thus far, occupied your COVID-19 isolation; you clock Shakedown by Leilah Weinraub, the site’s first non-adult film. Suddenly you’re fingers deep in a noir art-doco, boxed inside the legendary L.A. black lesbian club night of the early 2000’s. The film—itself a grinding Digicam collage—is a utopian playground; dreamy and seductive by way of factual-fantasia. In the words of Mrs Mahogany, one of the 19 ‘Angels’ in Shakedown; “I want you to make me horny but then I want you to make me wonder”.
Writer/director Leilah Weinraub initially set out to document utopian moments during her ‘Jordan Year’—aka, when you’re 23 and believe yourself boundless. She began filming Shakedown’s turbo striptease nights, a pit of quasi-nude Olympic dancing where being naked isn’t necessarily a goal but a calculated step within tight choreography. The film’s performances evoke a sexual ballad; each night a host of dancers were cheered on by a packed and largely queer audience.
Shakedown’s lifespan has been impressive, from gallery hopping to festival selections, to its month-long residency on Pornhub. No other documentary has better squashed the traditional film rollout by inventing its own neo-distribution model. Seeing the film’s footage reminds us how touching has become nostalgic. What better time to relive our longing for touch, now taken for granted, before a pandemic forced us to abstain, than with Leilah Weinraub’s film now available to view for free on The Criterion Channel. A quarantined Leilah speaks to André Shannon about queering the arthouse, her neo-noir documentary, and filmmaking as consciousness raising.
"I feel really confident about the work itself, and at this point I’m no longer the steward of it—the work exists out there and it's really about the conversation that it was placed inside of which I think has been very handheld and careful."
I think there's a lot of people that have been looking for this kind of feeling that was at the club. The shows at Shakedown were like an invention on how to be a woman, and how to be in public and have a sexual experience that is risky and respectful at the same time. That information needs to be communicated. There are ways to do strip clubs that are very sexy, where the performer is in charge, and commanding the show, and the room and the energy and space. I guess it was about letting people know that this was happening, that it exists, that it's possible.
"Making Shakedown was an experience for me of utopia, you know?"
I'm hesitant to call it exactly that, but there have been moments that have been so exceptional that I’ve been able to witness at night. I guess I’m trying to remember those, and remember those feelings and those lessons, and republish them, put them out again, continue to put them out and press that. And just keep continuing to invent options on how to be, how to interact with other people. Sometimes the world feels very hard and challenging and I just want to continue to publish different ideas on how to exist with other people.
"With the collaboration with Pornhub, I was able to work more in an art space and have an unlimited audience. Right now, it's really up to people. Whoever wants to watch it, it's available."
I think also that whole concept of arthouse film is really like—I don't even know what that is anymore, you know what I mean? Like, does that mean only 5000 people want to watch your film? Does it mean that you only want people that have already seen all of Godard's films to see your film? [laughs] I'm just excited for women to become makers. There already are so many, but to become one in all these industries and really guide the culture, you know? I just wanted to kind of escape the constraints of what the film industry might do with my film and put it in an arthouse space and limit its viewership. With the collaboration with Pornhub, I was able to work more in an art space and have an unlimited audience. Right now, it's really up to people. Whoever wants to watch it, it's available.
Poster artwork, director's photo and film stills supplied by The Film Collaborative.








It’s March 2020, and discounted Pornhub Premium has, thus far, occupied your COVID-19 isolation; you clock Shakedown by Leilah Weinraub, the site’s first non-adult film. Suddenly you’re fingers deep in a noir art-doco, boxed inside the legendary L.A. black lesbian club night of the early 2000’s. The film—itself a grinding Digicam collage—is a utopian playground; dreamy and seductive by way of factual-fantasia. In the words of Mrs Mahogany, one of the 19 ‘Angels’ in Shakedown; “I want you to make me horny but then I want you to make me wonder”.
Writer/director Leilah Weinraub initially set out to document utopian moments during her ‘Jordan Year’—aka, when you’re 23 and believe yourself boundless. She began filming Shakedown’s turbo striptease nights, a pit of quasi-nude Olympic dancing where being naked isn’t necessarily a goal but a calculated step within tight choreography. The film’s performances evoke a sexual ballad; each night a host of dancers were cheered on by a packed and largely queer audience.
Shakedown’s lifespan has been impressive, from gallery hopping to festival selections, to its month-long residency on Pornhub. No other documentary has better squashed the traditional film rollout by inventing its own neo-distribution model. Seeing the film’s footage reminds us how touching has become nostalgic. What better time to relive our longing for touch, now taken for granted, before a pandemic forced us to abstain, than with Leilah Weinraub’s film now available to view for free on The Criterion Channel. A quarantined Leilah speaks to André Shannon about queering the arthouse, her neo-noir documentary, and filmmaking as consciousness raising.
"I feel really confident about the work itself, and at this point I’m no longer the steward of it—the work exists out there and it's really about the conversation that it was placed inside of which I think has been very handheld and careful."
I think there's a lot of people that have been looking for this kind of feeling that was at the club. The shows at Shakedown were like an invention on how to be a woman, and how to be in public and have a sexual experience that is risky and respectful at the same time. That information needs to be communicated. There are ways to do strip clubs that are very sexy, where the performer is in charge, and commanding the show, and the room and the energy and space. I guess it was about letting people know that this was happening, that it exists, that it's possible.
"Making Shakedown was an experience for me of utopia, you know?"
I'm hesitant to call it exactly that, but there have been moments that have been so exceptional that I’ve been able to witness at night. I guess I’m trying to remember those, and remember those feelings and those lessons, and republish them, put them out again, continue to put them out and press that. And just keep continuing to invent options on how to be, how to interact with other people. Sometimes the world feels very hard and challenging and I just want to continue to publish different ideas on how to exist with other people.
"With the collaboration with Pornhub, I was able to work more in an art space and have an unlimited audience. Right now, it's really up to people. Whoever wants to watch it, it's available."
I think also that whole concept of arthouse film is really like—I don't even know what that is anymore, you know what I mean? Like, does that mean only 5000 people want to watch your film? Does it mean that you only want people that have already seen all of Godard's films to see your film? [laughs] I'm just excited for women to become makers. There already are so many, but to become one in all these industries and really guide the culture, you know? I just wanted to kind of escape the constraints of what the film industry might do with my film and put it in an arthouse space and limit its viewership. With the collaboration with Pornhub, I was able to work more in an art space and have an unlimited audience. Right now, it's really up to people. Whoever wants to watch it, it's available.
Poster artwork, director's photo and film stills supplied by The Film Collaborative.