From the late 1990s to the early 2000s, Leilah Weinraub was the resident videographer for Shakedown, a weekly party in Los Angeles that functioned as a strip club by and for African American lesbians. In this compelling documentary, Weinraub returns to that footage, adding reflective contemporary interviews with key performers, DJs, audience members, and her own musings to create an intoxicating portrait of the creation, flowering, and demise of a utopian moment—and how to represent it after the fact.
The underground activities of the Shakedown community have often been appropriated by mainstream culture, but this documentary (produced with support from the Wexner Center’s Film/Video Studio Program) provides a place for queer expression where black women’s desires, power, and autonomy can be seen and shown on its own terms. Rooney Elmi, a local film critic and publisher of the magazine SVLLY(wood), will moderate a discussion with the director after the screening. (72 mins., DCP)
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Program Support
Cosponsored by Ohio State’s Office of Student Life Multicultural Center.
SEASON SUPPORT FOR FILM/VIDEO
Rohauer Collection Foundation
SUPPORT FOR THE FILM/VIDEO STUDIO PROGRAM
Institute of Museum and Library Services
National Endowment for the Arts
GENERAL OPERATING SUPPORT FOR THE WEXNER CENTER
Greater Columbus Arts Council
Ohio Arts Council
The Columbus Foundation
Nationwide Foundation
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Shakedown