Pornhub is releasing its first-ever non-adult film, and it’s about queer Black stripper culture
Pornhub. (Miguel Candela/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty)
Pornhub is generally known for its wide array of porn content, but the streaming platform is venturing into new territory with its latest project.
The porn platform released Shakedown today (March 4), a documentary made by filmmaker Leilah Weinraub.
It is described as “a stream-of consciousness, nonfiction narrative about the queer women and men who populated the lesbian strip club scene in Los Angeles in the early aughts” by Variety, who first reported the venture.
The film follows gay women of colour in Los Angeles as they converge in a world created by ballroom drag and cisgender exotic dancers.
Pornhub documentary Shakedown comes as the streaming platform diversifies its content.
“I feel like it complicates the history of subcultures, like Los Angeles,” said Weinraub.
“It reorients your placing of things in that history. I feel like that was my goal, not to put a finger on it, but complicate and add to that richness,” she added.
The documentary comes as Pornhub, which had an estimated 42 billion site-visits last year, seeks to diversify its content.
There’s a cool opportunity right now to present films in the art space, there’s more openness to diversity and content, and a different sort of storytelling.
Shakedown has already been featured in an exhibit at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York and was also shown at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Pornhub users who want to watch the new documentary will want to act fast. It will be free to stream for the entire month of March before going to broadcast on the Criterion Channel. It will hit the iTunes store in the summer.
Weinraub told Variety that she is specifically hoping to engage Pornhub’s female users with the new documentary.
“There’s a cool opportunity right now to present films in the art space, there’s more openness to diversity and content, and a different sort of storytelling,” she said.
The porn giant wants to support the arts going forward.
Pornhub’s brand director Alex Klein said the film is part of the streaming platform’s commitment to supporting the arts.
“We want to be seen as a platform that artists and creators can use,” Klein said.
“We’ve seen artists in general upload content to the site, that might not have a home at places like YouTube or Vimeo, who don’t permit nudity. For us, premiering a feature length film is a first. We’re very excited about it.”
The porn company has given the documentary its own self-contained page where people can stream the film where a chat forum will also be open to viewers.
Weinraub will also check in once a week to talk to viewers about the documentary on the online chat.
