The Manor

DIRECTOR: Shawney Cohen

The story of a family-run strip club

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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

The Manor