Leilah Weinraub (b. Los Angeles, 1979) is a film director based in Los Angeles and New York.
Her work cuts across film, contemporary art, and fashion—merging surreal visuals with themes of generative chaos, luxury, and mythology, where utopic moments rise from disorder and desire. She directed SHAKEDOWN, the underground documentary that became a cult classic in both art and film worlds, praised for its raw intimacy and lasting cultural impact. Her latest, Seek No Favor, a dark comedy about vigilante violence and moral ambiguity, was co-directed and produced with writer Elle Clay.
Weinraub is known for building worlds that disturb the surface—intensely visual, often confrontational, and always grounded in authorship. She is currently focused on feature filmmaking and the evolution of new moving image works that push form and expectation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Black, Hannah. “Shakedown: LA Confidential.” Dazed.
Collins, K. Austin. “Shakedown Is a Must-See Documentary Now Streaming on Pornhub.” Vanity Fair.
Da Costa, Cassie. “Best Films of 2020.” Artforum.
Da Costa, Cassie. “Shakedown – Berlinale 2018 Review.” A View.
Donnelly, Matt. “Pornhub to Release First-Ever Non-Adult Film, About Black Lesbian Strip Club Culture (EXCLUSIVE).” Variety.
Dry, Jude. “Shakedown Is the Lesbian Strip Club Doc Good Enough That It’ll Be on Both Pornhub and Criterion.” IndieWire.
Eckardt, Stephanie. “Hood by Air’s Leilah Weinraub on the Debut of Her Film About a Black Lesbian Strip Club at the Whitney Biennial.” W Magazine.
Glazek, Christopher. “Hood By Air’s Radically Aggressive Streetwear.” The New Yorker.
Horyn, Cathy. “Hood By Air’s World Is a Shock From the Future.” The Cut.
Kennedy, Lisa. “Shakedown: Film Review.” Variety.
Larocca, Rachel. “The Ambiguously Gendered, Pan-Sexual, In-Your-Face Rolling Party of Hood By Air.” The Cut.
Mallett, Whitney. “The Best Lesbian Award Show Extravaganza in NYC, Period.” Vulture.
Ongley, Hannah. “Leilah Weinraub Spent 10 Years Documenting a Black Lesbian Strip Club.” i-D.
Petrarca, Emilia. “Hood By Air’s 5 Most Memorable Moments.” W Magazine.
Ryzik, Melena. “How Do You Make a Film for a Museum and Pornhub? Ask Leilah Weinraub.” The New York Times.
Sargent, Antwaun. “The Making of Hood By Air CEO Leilah Weinraub’s Shakedown.” The Standard.
Weiner, Jonah. “Hood By Air’s Collective Fashions.” The New York Times.
Wham, Jack. “News to Me: Max von Sydow, Leilah Weinraub, and Kelly Reichardt.” Film Comment.
EXHIBITIONS
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2018 – SHAKEDOWN, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, Harlem, NY
2018 – SHAKEDOWN, What Pipeline, Detroit, MI
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025 – Forthcoming, Made in L.A., Hammer Museum, Los Angeles
2023 – São Paulo Biennial, São Paulo, Brazil
2021 – Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement, Geneva
2021 – LEAN, Kunsthall Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway
2021 – LEAN, Performa, New York, NY
2019 – RE:WORKING LABOR, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL
2018 – Putting Out, Gavin Brown’s enterprise, New York, NY
2017 – Whitney Biennial, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
FILM
SEEK NO FAVOR (2025)
Co-Director (with Elle Clay)
Short narrative film; festival submissions in progress
SHAKEDOWN (2018)
Director, Producer, Writer
Premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival