The Watermelon Woman - Movie

The Watermelon Woman

Cheryl Dunye
Docu-fiction : 90’ / BIPOC, Comedy, Lesbian, Herstory, Community

Cheryl is a twentysomething black lesbian struggling to make a documentary about Fae Richards, a beautiful and elusive 1930s black film actress popularly known as “The Watermelon Woman”. While uncovering the meaning of Fae Richards’ life, Cheryl experiences a total upheaval in her personal life. Her love affair with Diana, a beautiful white woman, and her interactions with the gay and black communities are subject to Tamara's comic yet biting criticism. Meanwhile, each answer Cheryl discovers about the Watermelon Woman evokes a flurry of new questions about herself and her future. The film was restored as part of the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project, which is the version that will be screened.

Sections: QL - Retrospective
+ Info: https://www.thefilmcollaborative.org

/ Details

Year: 1996

Country: USA

Language: english

Subtitles: english

With: Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valerie Walker, Lisa Marie Bronson, Camille Paglia, Irene Dunye, Brian Freeman, Toshi Reagon, Sarah Schulman, Cheryl Clarke

/ Direction

Cheryl Dunye

USA

Cheryl Dunye was born in Liberia in 1966 but grew up in Philadelphia, USA. She is a director, producer, screenwriter, editor, and actress. She earned her master’s degree from Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts in 1992. She has taught at various institutions, including the University of California and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and was awarded the prestigious Anonymous Was a Woman Award in 1997. She currently serves as Vice President of the Directors’ Council at the Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco) and is a board member of QWOCMAP—the Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project.