Shakedown

Leilah Weinraub's 2018 documentary is about Shakedown, a series of parties run in Los Angeles by and for Black lesbian women. Weinraub filmed the parties with her own camera for years and the film is built from those recordings. Its value is in the archive: this scene of the early 2000s was recorded nowhere else and the venues later closed. There is no voice-over; the dancers and organisers describe their own arrangement, how the money is divided, who decides who performs. The image quality is raw, deliberately. The sexual content is direct and constant. Who it's for: viewers interested in queer history archives and documentaries about subcultures. Who it's not for: anyone avoiding sexual content, or wanting an orderly documentary structure.