The story of a family-run strip club
When he was six, Shawney Cohen’s father bought “The Manor,” a small-town strip-club. Hoping to understand what happened to his nice Jewish family, Shawney spends years filming this intimate tragi-comic family portrait that lays bare the nature of dependence and love.
***Opening Night Film – Hot Docs***
***Official Competition – Karlovy Vary – Winner, Honorable Mention Best Documentary***
***Official Competition Opening Night – Zurich***
***Official Competition – Woodstock – Winner, Best Editing***
***Official Selection – Bergen***
***Official Selection – Goteborg***
***Official Selection – DOCNYC***
***Official Selection – Antenna***
***Official Selection – DMZ***
“There’s more than a faint echo of ‘Grey Gardens’ in this Canadian-gothic portrait of an unusual family business.” – Variety
“The Manor… [rises] to the ranks of some of the best family portrait documentaries.” – Indiewire
“In the vein of Capturing the Friedmans and Crazy Love” – Filmmaker Magazine
“78 minutes rich with character, incident, friction, deadpan humour and voyeuristic thrills.” – The Globe & Mail
“[A] simmering goulash of psychological issues – including but not limited to self-denial, substance abuse and matters of body image…” – NOW Magazine
“Reminiscent of The Queen of Versailles… bound to be a crowd-pleaser” – MacLeans
“Serves as a springboard into the Cohens’ complicated family dynamic” – NOW Magazine Special
“The Manor is the GODFATHER of Jewish Strip-Club Owning Family Films” – Screen Anarchy
