“It has this style—audio-visually, the graphic design of it—that is really, to me, what the audio-visual modality of Black cinema is at present, even though it took a decade to make. Even though it’s not born of the moment, it is the omnipresent present, in a way.”

— TIME MAGAZINE

“UNPARALLELED, EXPERIMENTAL EXPRESSION FROMA A FILMMAKER WHO’S JUST GETTING STARTED”

— DAZED

“SOMETIMES YOU’LL GET THE CHANCE TO SEE A FILM THAT CHANGES EVERYTHING. THAT TO ME IS SHAKEDOWN”

— BERLINALE

UNDERSTAND, COMPREHEND

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UNDERSTAND, COMPREHEND ↓

I LOVE A REAL BITCH

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I LOVE A REAL BITCH ↓

THEY FIND OUT ABOUT ME BECAUSE OF THEIR MOMS

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THEY FIND OUT ABOUT ME BECAUSE OF THEIR MOMS ↓

ITS ABOUT THAT FIRST IMAGE WHEN YOU COME OUT

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ITS ABOUT THAT FIRST IMAGE WHEN YOU COME OUT ↓

SYNOPSIS

There are no signs or banners and from the street Shakedown’s building is very plain. By word of mouth the club is known to be a place that one could go to for their first experience in gay nightlife.

Inside Shakedown balloons decorate the interior, attached to the chairs they show the theme colors of the night. The theme of the night celebrates someone in the crowds birthday, or a graduation, or the opening of a new business.

Dancers come out in dramatic elaborate outfits, special ordered and custom made to match the colors and theme of the night. They dance, they perform, they strip. There are no poles or elevated stages, so the circle of women patrons, grooving to the music themselves, have to step into the center of the room to tip the performers. Entering the stage, they shower dollar bills on the dancers giving payment and appreciation.

SHAKEDOWN the film depicts a system, one that functions like a family put into motion for all of the reasons that people need a family, support financial and emotional, and a place of self-growth. The cycle of money exchanged and passed through the world can also be a metaphor for energy and also as a vehicle to transport the viewer through the various voices in this world.

Living In Los Angeles there is a visual language that you learn, to access of the city. Nothing is what is seems from the outside and from the outside things look pretty much the same. Strip malls, brown buildings and concrete streets for miles stretching in all directions. Palm trees and cars. At night, it’s more of the same but less light and less cars. Some places are just hard to find.

FESTIVALS

2018 68th BERLINALE • World Premiere

2018 TRUE/FALSE • US Premiere

2018 OUTFEST Fusion • Los Angeles

2018 WICKED QUEER FEST • Boston, MA

2018 IMAGES • Toronto, ON

2018 LOVERS FILM FESTIVAL • Turin, Italy

2018 MARYLAND FILM FESTIVAL • Baltimore, MD

2018 SEATTLE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL • Seattle, WA

2018 QDOC FILM FEST • Portland, OR

2018 DOCAVIV • Tel Aviv, Israel

2018 SHEFFIELD DOC FEST • Sheffield, UK

FRAMELINE42 • San Francisco, CA

2018 KOREA QUEER FILM FESTIVAL • Seoul

2018 OUTFEST • Los Angeles

2018 DURBAN INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL • South Africa

2018 OUT ON SCREEN • Vancouver

2018 HONOLULU RAINBOW FILM FESTIVAL • Hawaii

2018 LONG BEACH Q FILM FESTIVAL • Long Beach, CA

2018 OUTFLIX MEMPHIS • Memphis, TN

2018 QUEER LISBOA • Lisbon, Portugal

2018 SOME PREFER CAKE FILM FESTIVAL • Bologna, Italy

2018 REELING • Chicago, IL

2018 POP MONTREAL • Montreal, Canada

2018 MILWAUKEE LGBT FILM/VIDEO FESTIVAL • Milwaukee, WI

2018 LUSTREIFEN QUEER FILM FESTIVAL • Basel, Switzerland

2018 WOODSTOCK FILM FESTIVAL • New York, NY

2018 HAMBURG INTERNATIONAL QUEER FILM FESTIVAL • Hamburg, Germany

2018 TWIST: SEATTLE QUEER FILM FESTIVAL • Seattle, WA

2018 SANTA FE INDEPENDENT FILM FESTIVAL • Santa Fe, NM

2018 PORN FILM FESTIVAL BERLIN • Berlin, Germany

2018 BLACK GOLD ARTS FESTIVAL • Moffat, UK

2018 INDIE MEMPHIS • Memphis, TN • Documentary Competition Feature Winner

2018 MIX LGBTQ FILM FESTIVAL • Copenhagen, Denmark

2018 SCOTTISH QUEER INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL • Glasglow, Scotland

2019 OUTVIEW FILM FESTIVAL • Athens, Greece

2019 BRISBANE QUEER FILM FESTIVAL • Brisbane, Australia

THE PALACE INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2019 • Bristol, UK

2019 MELBOURNE QUEER FILM FESTIVAL • Melbourne, Australia

CINEQ QUEER FILM FESTIVAL 2019 • Birmingham, UK

SCREENINGS

Converso and Macao (Milan, Italy)

MoMA PS1 (New York)

What Pipeline (Flint, MI)

Bodies on Display (Atlanta, GA)

Berlin Film Society (Berlin, Germany)

Institute of Contemporary Art (Miami, FL)

Institute of Contemporary Arts (London, UK)

Tate Modern (London, UK)

Homo Arigato: Contrast Fest (Austin, TX)

Utah Film Center (Salt Lake City, UT)

MOCA (Los Angeles, CA)

Pinault Collectiction/Palazzo Grassi Spa (Venice, Italy)

Brooklyn Academy of Music (Brooklyn, NY)

Now Instant Image Hall (Los Angeles, CA)

MK2 Palais Royale - FIAC (Paris, France)

Gavin Brown's Enterprise (New York, NY)

Wexner Center for the Arts (Columbus, OH)

Amherst Cinema (Amherst, MA)

Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (Chicago, IL)

Shotgun Cinema (New Orleans, LA)

Squeaky Wheel Cinema & Media Center (Buffalo, NY)

Sissy Screens (Melbourne, Australia)

Paris Queer Week (Paris, France)

La Gâité Lyrique (Paris, France)

Maysles Documentary Center (New York, NY)

Anthology Film Archives (New York, NY)

Red Rattler (Sydney, Australia)

UCSB Carsey-Wolf Center (Santa Barbara, CA)

Baltimore Film Fatales (Baltimore, MD)

STORE