Events

[FILM] The best works of art and media encapsulate their own universe with its own set of rules and norms, and if the reviews which all describe Shakedown as an immersive glimpse into a community are any indication, we’re in for a special night on Saturday. Filmmaker Leilah Weinraub is bringing her 2018 documentary about a since shuttered black lesbian strip club in Los Angeles to the Varsity Theatre on Bailey Avenue. The film has been described as a genuine representation of a marginalized community coming together, compromising a utopic vision of how communities form and are sustained. By turns bold, sexy, tender, and tragic, the film speaks to the moment in America and in Buffalo in particular, where spaces for LGBTQ+ community are ever rarer, more fleeting. The film has been previously screened at the Museum of Modern Art NY and the Whitney Biennial, and Weinraub and activist Elisa Peebles will take part in a Q and A afterwards. And there’s an after party at the East Side gem of a lesbian bar (Buffalo’s only?): Sweet’s Lounge, featuring several DJs and a performance by burlesque troupe Femme Noire, benefitting the currently nomadic artist collective Dreamland.