Posted: 03/03/2020
NEW YORK, N.Y. (MARCH 3, 2020) – Pornhub the leading online destination for adult entertainment has created a special viewing page at pornhub.com/art/shakedown for the online premier of SHAKEDOWN, the critically-acclaimed documentary art film by filmmaker and vanguard artist Leilah Weinraub. The film will screen for the month of March via pornhub.com/art/shakedown
Pornhub is investing in celebrating artists and visionaries like Leilah Weinraub
“SHAKEDOWN explores themes of race, class, currency, and identity through the lens of Weinraub’s boundary-breaking vision,” said Corey Price, VP, Pornhub. “Here at Pornhub, we’re invested in celebrating artists and visionaries like Leilah and in sharing diverse narratives of human pleasure and sexuality. We are so excited to share her work with a wider public audience for the very first time.”
Pornhub has created a viewing page for the film to screen this documentary.
SHAKEDOWN is an experimental documentary film and time-based work of art. It is an essential piece of LA history, of radical queer filmmaking and contemporary video art. Weinraub chose Pornhub as a partner for the film’s online release with the intention that the film be seen and made openly accessible to a wide audience before placement in an arts institution.
Pornhub has worked with Leilah as the creative director, to build a dedicated screening page at pornhub.com/art/shakedown welcoming documentary and art film viewers to enjoy the film.
Pornhub.com/art/shakedown will feature a live chat. The concept is "alone together" as authored by Leilah Weinraub.
On the project’s landing page, Pornhub and Weinraub will be hosting a series of Q&A live chats throughout the month of March. The chats will simulate the experience of watching the film together, even while alone. For additional details on the Q&A event schedule, visit: www.pornhub.com/art/shakedown
The history of artist Leilah Weinraub’s relationship with Pornhub began with her work as CEO and creative director of Hood By Air.
As C.E.O and creative director of Hood By Air, Weinraub collaborated with Pornhub to create the brand’s SS17 runway collection. Weinraub saw an opportunity for an expansion upon the conceptual work that she has done with SHAKEDOWN by collaborating on this premier of with the Pornhub team.
The film screened at the 2017 Whitney Biennial, the 68th Berlin International Film Festival, Tate Modern, MoMA PS1, and Weinraub's first solo show at gallery Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, Harlem, NY and festivals internationally. Pornhub’s acquisition of this art edition of the film offers institutional stewardship while providing wide public access to a diverse audience.
SHAKEDOWN is an independent film and a time based work of art. As a film, it has a unique distribution path. As a work of art, it has both institutional and private collectors.
Beyond being an independent film, SHAKEDOWN is a time based work of art. Editions of the film, such as the edition purchased by Pornhub, are being collected both by institutions and private collectors.
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.
Leilah Weinraub’s process of creating SHAKEDOWN spanned a decade and consisted of impressionistic cinematography using available cameras and archival work preserving the flyers and AV recordings used by the club for promotional purposes. The resulting visual presentation is an emotionally immersive, subjective experience similar to that of a personal memory.
About Pornhub.com
Founded in 2007, Pornhub is the leading free, ad-supported adult video streaming website, offering viewers the opportunity to upload and share their own videos. With over 5 million videos and over 120 million visitors a day, Pornhub truly is the best adult site in the world. Pornhub has built the largest dedicated membership base in the adult community, with over 10 million engaged and loyal members, offering viewers a fun and sophisticated social experience directly in site, complete with messaging, photos, achievement badges and much more.
About Leilah Weinraub:
Leilah Weinraub is an artist whose work spans across the mediums of feature film, photography and fashion product. She is the former CEO and Creative Director of the ready-to-wear label Hood By Air. In 2002 Weinraub began shooting the film SHAKEDOWN. The experimental documentary is the central component in a project that spans over 15 years, and consists of over 400 hours of footage, a digital and material archive, and extensive photographic work. IG : @LEILAHWORLD
To contact Leilah Weinraub for interview / quote: be@becky.consulting and info@leilahweinraub.com