Qmmunity: Lights, Camera, Sapphic Cinema!

Lights, camera, sapphic cinema! Two of Austin’s leaders in the lesbians-having-fun scene are combining their powers this Friday for a Juneteenth/Pride screening at Hyperreal Film Club. Carabiner Club, the sapphic cinema arm of HFC helmed by Louise Ho, and event organizers TribRelations present nightlife doc Shakedown (2018), a look back at Los Angeles’ Black lesbian strip club boom from 2002-04 directed by Leilah Weinraub. In addition to the 7:30pm screening, what was originally released as the first non-pornographic feature on Pornhub will have an afterparty for viewers and walk-ins alike around 10:30 with performances by the Great Flying Cervix and DJ Kuntress.

This sapphic supergroup came about as most gay stuff does in Austin – an introduction by local scene shaker Beth Schindler where TribRelations’ team and the Carabiner Club shook hands. The meeting was serendipitous, too, as Ho says she’d been seeking an opportunity to screen Shakedown for some time. “I’m thrilled at a chance to collaborate with TribRelations,” she says, “which carries on the Shakedown torch of Black lesbian nightlife pop-ups here in Austin.”

TribRelations’ own Marr, aka drag performer Justin Eater, says the group’s first intro to Shakedown was through Carabiner Club’s suggestion. Watching the feature felt “very affirming to what we are doing as an org,” Marr explains. “It was also so so cool to see lesbian history in a way I had personally never seen it before.” The documentary’s themes of creating, growing, and protecting Black sapphic spaces matches perfectly with TribRelations’ entire ethos, she says.

“It’s perfect because the movie celebrates and showcases queer art,” writes Marr via email, “which falls in line with it being pride month, and then the fact that it’s on Juneteenth is the cherry on top since it’s also highlighting creations of spaces and expression for and by black people.”

As the first documentary featured in Carabiner Club’s programming, Ho finds that the movie continues the series’ efforts to offer indie sapphic filmmaking “that emphasizes joy and community.” Given Austin’s lack of a lesbian bar, “[the] pop-up scene in Austin is very robust,” which Ho connects to Shakedown’s chronicling of the underground lesbian go-go and strip club scene: “I think it will be inspiring and relatable to sapphics in Austin.”

Attending the party after the movie? Get ready for a “safe space for ass shaking, dancing, and fun free of judgment,” says Marr. There’ll also be performances and activities during the usual Hyperreal intermission period mid-movie, so make sure you get your pee break in quick. And if the spirit of Shakedown stays with ya into the next day? Ho recommends checking docu-short “T’Ain’t Nobody’s Business,” a dive into the 1920s Black queer blues scene, or drag king docs like “Storme, Lady of the Jewel Box” and 2002’s Venus Boyz.

Oh, and one more note before you attend: “Shakedown is way more sexually graphic than [Carabiner Club’s] usual romance films,” Ho says. “[It’s] wall-to-wall loud music, thongs, and raunchy dancing – should be fun!”

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This article appears in June 19 • 2026.

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