Events

Sidewalk Film 101: The Watermelon Woman (1996)

Sometimes you have to create your own history.

Cheryl Dunye

The wry, incisive debut feature by Cheryl Dunye gave cinema something bracingly new and groundbreaking: a vibrant representation of Black lesbian identity by a Black lesbian filmmaker. Dunye stars as Cheryl, a video-store clerk and aspiring director whose interest in forgotten Black actresses leads her to investigate an obscure 1930s performer known as the Watermelon Woman, whose story proves to have surprising resonances with Cheryl’s own life as she navigates a new relationship.

Credits

Director(s):

Cheryl Dunye

Producer(s):

Barry Swimar

Co-Producers(s):

Cate Wilson

Writer(s):

Cheryl Dunye

Cast:

Cheryl Dunye, Guinevere Turner, Valarie Walker, Lisa Marie Bronson, Cheryl Clarke, Irene Dunye

Composer(s):

Paul Shapiro